9/17 through 9/23 - PP and HoJo - and two mini-trip reports (now with photopass pix) [Archive] - The DIS Discussion Forums

bumbershoot

08-19-2007, 06:18 PM

So back in September of '05, my brother, who lives in San Diego, invited us for a visit. He and his wife are joyously childFREE, and my brother is actually not one who likes little kids at all, so we were just thrilled that they both liked our son. My brother is blunt, and doesn't let unpleasant things into his life, so if Boy hadn't been liked, he wouldn't have been invited down.

Since we were going, so sort of *had to* include a day at DL. Which I thought was sufficient.

I like to plan things, and since I had been bereft of planning since our wedding and honeymoon (we're hippie types with a family bed (DH would say we are like his Korean family, he doesn't like how I put it, since he's just following tradition for his main culture), so I didn't even need to plan a nursery), I threw myself into planning this one day.

Not sure what I read...I think I joined a yahoo group at that time, I might have read a guidebook? I had a pretty good handle on things, and despite getting there well after the gates opened, we had a good time! Little silliness with our first child swap, in that I just sat there with our 1 year old, waiting for the family to come off of Indiana Jones...hum dee dum. If I had known how long that queue is, and known how long it would be, I would have gone and had some food, or looked around, or done *something*. But I just sat.

Once they were done, I forced my SIL to go on it with me, even though she protested (her back isn't all that strong, and neither is my brother's, and Indy bugs them), and I LOVED LOVED LOVED it. And it was possibly my first half hour away from DS since he arrived. Freedom! :upsidedow

The rest of the day was great. As we finished with Jungle Cruise and Indy, it started to POUR. Suddenly, the park was ours, we were nearly alone! Sure, we had to fork out around $30 for a poncho and umbrella, but the quietness of the park that day was priceless.

Tarzan was closed b/c of the rain, but we went on everything else we wanted to. DS nursed and fell asleep on POTC, and was asleep halfway through our lunch of veggie gumbo in bread bowl up at Royal Veranda (I think).

By the time we got over towards Space Mountain, brother and SIL were used to DS enough that they watched him while Dh and I rode the coaster! Wow! While in line outside on the upper level, we kept looking down and watching the three of them interact, it was cute.

The in between stuff is really fuzzy.

My avatar is from that trip. We're damp, our hair is extra-curly, but it was warming up (and of course carrying my baby koala like that keeps me warm). We took a break at the...ugh, the restaurant over near Pooh, overlooking the canoes? That's where that picture was taken. My brother LOVES his camera, and takes pictures all day long. Which is pretty cool, b/c usually that's MY job!

Sure, this is an older trip, but here are some pix.

Rainy day shortly after getting there.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7da34b3127cce83e77b81ed1900000016108CZMmjFq1bC

I'm sure Boy is looking at those Winnie the Pooh statues here.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7da34b3127cce83e7732dedb100000016108CZMmjFq1bC

Here's the hoosband. http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7da34b3127cce83e75f4a6cf000000015108CZMmjFq1bC

I love It's a Small World...I really do. I think it's sad that this and some topiaries are the only pictures we got of it.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7da34b3127cce83e75d1d6ca600000016108CZMmjFq1bC

However, on this trip in '05, I was in too much of an adult frame of mind, and could only see the "underpinnings" of IASW. Noticed the ceiling tiles, the backdrops, and such. Real bummer.

But I still love the song. As a kid I almost drove my then-new stepmom out of her mind, playing the album over and over and over. And over.

The only bummer of that day was Autopia. We got fastpasses earlier, and waited quite awhile for it to be time. While we went to Autopia, my brother and SIL went off to do Space Mountain again. The FP line was an utter joke, b/c it mixed with the regular line almost as soon as we got in. VERY disappointing. And the line was LONG. long long long.

When it was at long last our turn, Dh got into his car, and DS and I got into ours. But it had been a long day, and he was velcro-baby, and refused to sit on the seat. Well, he was over 1 year old, and the CMs refused to let us go unless he was on his seat. He's a strong, tall kid, and unless I go to drastic measures, if he physically refuses something, it's nearly impossible for me to force it. There have been times where getting him into his carseat has taken an HOUR, because he is so strong, limber, and tall.

So we got up and left, and watched for DH from the bridge on the way out.

The cool thing, however, was that although the pizza restaurant had *just* closed as we walked up, a family saw us and saw our disappointment. They had ordered one too many pizzas, and GAVE us their extra. Full, untouched, veggie pizza. Refused money! It was amazing. Magical, some might say. Touched by pixie dust, others might say.

I said none of that, as I was simply having fun, not realizing how stinkin' addicted to the place I was about to become...princess:

We accidentally caught part of the parade on our way out, which was cool. DH hadn't seen any Disney movies by that point, so Simba on a float was a big lion to him, not a character. (is it Simba as the full grown lion, or is it his father? hmm) It was fun watching him watch it, as we walked slowly out of the park.

Long drive home to San Diego, and a bit scary (Southern CA driving + my brother's Miami-taught brand of defensive driving = actually quite safe, but covering my eyes makes it feel better), but it let me reflect on the fabulous day we had just had.

bumbershoot

08-19-2007, 06:33 PM

The next year we were invited again! This time we chose October, so I could celebrate my b'day on our trip. The September of the last year was chosen so my brother and I could be together over our late mom's birthday, and that was nice, but really SAD, and we decided that having a HAPPY birthday was a better idea for that trip.

We weren't so lucky with the weather on this trip, and the crowds were a bit bigger. But we missed both Gay Days and Columbus Day, so it was as light as it could be for that time, really.

I think that was the trip where I lurked around the corners of the Dis. I'm not 100% if there was even a DL board at that time. If there was, I never found it! I just looked around the WDW boards, I read glendamax, I read some utahmama, I had some fun, but never joined and never participated.

This time I read Unofficial Guide, I read birnbaum, I read some other guide, I took notes, I checked them out again...I was going to do something with LGMHs, but then realized that everyone was talking about WDW not DL, so scrapped that idea.

As we prepared for our trip, my FIL was having some problems. He had some kidney procedures done that were never really explained to us. He agreed to watch our cat for us while we were gone (come by every day and interact with her along with food, water, and litter), but the day we left, he was going in for another kidney thing. I was worried, but no one else was, so I pushed it out of my head.

We went to San Diego, and decided to go to DL early in the trip. Decided on a day.

We got there even later than the year before. I was being a bit of a freak about it, but I finally worked on reigning it in. I couldn't control my brother and SIL, we all wanted to have a good time, so I had to say "ohm" and drop my touring agenda. After all, the last trip went great, despite having less of a clue!

Look how much DS had grown! Ugh, and how much I had grown. We had moved to a house that was supposed to be great, but it was dark and cold, with no fence so I couldn't relax outside, there were spiders everywhere, I popped two innertubes on the jogging stroller just trying to GET to the sidewalk for healthy walks...it was a bad, bad house, and all I did for a year there was EAT. Ugh.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d832b3127cce859a5903e60100000026108CZMmjFq1bC

I think I skipped Jungle Cruise on this trip, I'm not totally sure why, though Indy might have had something to do with it. Both times now I've been the second to go with the child swap, so I've never seen the whole queue! Next time I'm just going to stand in the entire line, I don't care how long it takes (no no I don't mean that). :rolleyes1

Still love Indy.

Went to the restaurant right in there for b'fast, and had Mickey pancakes.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d832b3127cce859a5764e66100000035108CZMmjFq1bC

This is what Mickey looks like when all cut up.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d832b3127cce859a569aa60700000026108CZMmjFq1bC

We went on Tarzan, which is a bit weird with a 2 year old on your back.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d832b3127cce859b804586ff00000026108CZMmjFq1bC

bumbershoot

08-19-2007, 06:55 PM

The middle, again, is hazy. POTC was great, and DS was so brave. He sat between us, and didn't suck his thumb (a rare behaviour from him anyway), but took part of my shirt and sucked on that. Hey, whatever makes him feel safe, right?

More veggie gumbo in a bread bowl, yummo.

Wandered around NO a bit, didn't see anywhere near everything. I don't know if TS Island was closed by that time, but I know we didn't go on it either trip. The paddleboat was closed, I think.

While I went on Space Mtn with brother and SIL, DH took boy over to the Astro Orbiters (or whatever they are called). Well, that was his intention at least, b/c those are his favorite. Instead, he got into the Buzz queue, and didn't realize it for quite some time! Now the weird part is that he didn't tell me they went on the wrong ride for something like 6 months! Silly. So from MY perspective, they went on Astro while I was on SM, and then we swapped the kid, and SIL and I watched him play while brother and DH went on SM. So we were watching Boy play with that big rotating ball.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d832b3127cce859b80eb865100000026108CZMmjFq1bC

Which is kind of one of the coolest things ever. So many parents refused to let their kids touch it, but DS really explored it. He was just over 2, and I think he interacted "with" it for almost an hour. Serious attention getter.

So suddenly, we see Buzz go walking by. DH sees him, and shouts a 2 year old version of "astronaut". We didn't go over there for some reason (I myself am shy with characters, and I think I didn't even realize he WAS a character? I don't know what was wrong with me. :confused3 ), but DS loved seeing him.

And then months later, I finally found out that they went on Buzz instead of AO, and it all made sense. He had just been on the ride, and then he saw Buzz. Whew. I was thinking he was some sort of space-related savant, having never to my knowledge heard the word astronaut before, but it was more easily explained.

We went on rides, we wandered around, we ate part of the birthday cake that came in my b'day princess bucket (soooo not worth $20 unless you are a 4 year old girl, and even then, the comb and brush are too babyish for your hair, and the cake was awful IMO) and finally DS fell asleep in the stroller.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d832b3127cce859b960a86bb00000026108CZMmjFq1bC

Brother and SIL were hurting, their backs I think (they run marathons and are fit and trim always, while DH and I were quite heavy and out of shape on this trip, but WE were running around like happy little campers while the others sat down), so they sat with sleeping Kiddo while we went on BTMRR. Ooh, our second date in over 2 years.

Just as we were leaving the ride, DS woke up. Good timing!

I think there was a Mickey bar at some point during that day. I have never had a Dole Whip, because our first trip I never saw the stand, and this trip it was closed each time we went by.

This time we skipped the scary dark rides. Haven't yet been on Toad or Peter Pan, b/c they have been closed each visit, and I didn't even KNOW there was an Alice until it was far too late (queue out to there) on the last trip.

I don't think SIL would object to this anonymous picture with her nephew...they were looking at the tiny little mice at the NO trainstation (just like the tiny little mice near Matterhorn).

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d832b3127cce859bbe5c86f900000026108CZMmjFq1bC

We tried to go on Haunted Mansion, which had recently opened with the overlay. But it was late in the day, we were all tired. I personally don't like the Nightmare before xmas stuff, and probably didn't hide my discomfort from DS. We FP'd it, as you can do during that time, and although the FP got us very close very fast, once we got in the stretch room and the lights went out...everyone screamed at the top of their lungs, and that was IT for my Boy. Had to find the exit with him, which of course is right where you get on...the exit has black walls and goes on forEVER, it is nearly spookier than the mansion itself, and he was FREAKING out by the time we got outside. In retrospect, if it's ride vs that exit again, I'm taking him on the ride.

The year before, it was closed to have the overlay put on it, so I still have not gone on HM since I was a kid.

I made it my mission to do the mountains (and I count Indy b/c I think the ride is set inside a mountain), but couldn't do Matterhorn b/c it was closed for refurbs. Splash was my last ride of the day. Brother sat, SIL went to get a Skellington thing for my hubby, DH and Boy-o went on Pooh 3 or 4 times in a row (didn't even have to get out of the beehive or whatever it is), while I went and got soaked (despite a poncho!) on Splash.

Didn't catch the parade (avoided it, actually), and left.

Had a good time in San Diego the rest of the trip, but actually quite wanted to go back to DL, but brother had to work (from home) and couldn't drive us, DH had to go back up home b/c his dad was very very VERY ill, and I refused to drive a massive Durango on those highways.

Good trip anyway!

bumbershoot

08-19-2007, 07:45 PM

So there are two one-day trip reports, not very comprehensive, but DS got into my scrapbooking stuff and ripped up my notes that I took at the end of each evening (which were scrawled in the dark car anyway). :(

***************************************

The trip we're about to embark on came about while trying to figure out our trip for my 20th HS reunion. When I went to college, my mom left my home state too, moving to Miami and then VA. My dad's place was never *home*, so I've been bereft ever since. :upsidedow

I don't see my dad nearly enough, along with my half-sibs. I have some other family in the area as well that I would love to see. I have ancient friends, and some family friends who would like to catch up.

My full brother (from Disney trips) does NOT speak to our father, doesn't even think about him. So combining the two at the same time was not a possibility. But we were sad we wouldn't see my brother at the same time this year as the last two, it has become almost a tradition!

And we really wanted to stay at DL, but my brother and SIL have little interest in that for some reason.

So it has become...go to hometown for reunion, stay with dad, toodle around. Have the reunion events, then go to Anaheim. Then go back up to northern CA, visit some more, and go home.

Visit brother in early December, to see the pretty lights for one day at DL, and do whatever brother/SIL want to do the rest of the shorter visit. :)

Obviously it will be financially responsible to get Annual Passes. Especially because we can see going again in Jan or Feb, and then again in perhaps May, and maybe another time in early September of next year? Would be ridiculous, wasteful, to get tickets for each visit. AP is much more $$ sound.

Which is true, but still sounds like a big ol' justification to my ears...

So now I'll show you what the Indecisive part of the title is all about.

Without a SOLID date in mind, I started researching packages. DL dot com itself, AAA, Costco. Back and forth. Could have booked, but was still a little sketchy, wanted to wait. Checked the prices (did my rounds, as I call it) one afternoon. Still the same. Decided to book. That night, went back around...ALL the prices had gone up. Dayum. Had to hold off while we processed that.

Finally decided to book. Costco.

Started off, 3 nights. Paradise Pier, dining plan. Thought it was similar to what I had read about WDW's dining plan.

Booked it online, excellent.

Read some more, saw that Bret's lodging map and noticed how far away PP was, found ot that the DL dining plan was not a bargain...

Maybe a month later I switched it to Carousel and no dining plan. They were sweet and didn't charge for the change.

OK I gotta cut this pre-trip part short, b/c DS is having a little melt-down.

bumbershoot

08-20-2007, 02:36 AM

Phew, OK, everyone's asleep.

So I went from PP with dining plan to Carousel without the dining plan.

Through Costco, we get a "free" (AKA "included in the price") character breakfast, so for months I've been going back and forth on which one we want. We're vegetarian, and even though we have problems with our weights, we can't just gorge at buffets. We can't even eat enough to feel we've paid for what we get at Zoopa, and that's only $9 for dinner. mmm, Zoopa... So we want the characters to be good, and perhaps even unique (hard to find in the parks), and for the food to be focused on what we want, not going off into arenas we won't be eating. (i.e. meat carving stations and the like)

I was never really happy about Carousel. Cute website, interesting looking b'fast/fireworks-watching room (though our package stay doesn't include even Friday, let alone Saturday for those fireworks), simple pool. But it just didn't make me happy. I had seen this one room at a different hotel I liked, but it never showed up on Costco's website, and that was the ONLY style of room I would have wanted there. So I figure, next time. :)

See, I figure we'll do the package thing maybe once for DL. Get the lanyard, get the pin, get the little gift card. Get the experience of looking at all these hotels, get the AP...and in the future, just book where we want to stay without dealing with a package.

I kept reading and reading, asking some questions, etc etc etc (in case you, the reader, have noticed, I talk quite a bit around here).

And then....dun dun DUN...the 4th night free offer came out. NOT for Carousel, darn them!

By that time, we had realized we really did need an extra day. This 3 night thing just was NOT cutting it for us. So the 4th night offer was great!

After going back and forth, swinging this way and that, with the hubster not really caring as long as we could afford it...I chose Paradise Pier for 4 nights! It's the same price as it was before adding the dining plan, from when I booked it to begin with, BUT with an extra night. Nice!

So I switched us. And again, the lovely WDTC/Costco-specific reps in Anaheim were incredibly nice, and didn't charge me a change-fee as they certainly could have done.

bumbershoot

08-20-2007, 02:43 AM

So now I'm looking into more EE days, I'm starting to work on my schedule (EE and MTTMM days). I've at long last booked our lunchtime PS at Blue Bayou, where we might just get a cookie boat, or maybe share the portobello dish I've read about (with the split plate fee, of course). We also decided on a character breakfast, and we'll be staying right in the hotel for the Lilo and Stitch meal. I just keep hearing the words pineapple scones and it's just driving me to the edge! I want a pineapple scone NOW! So we're looking forward to all of that.

In the midst of all this planning, I've been feverishly doing Sunshine Rewards to earn gift cards for our trip. I only started in March, and I never thought I'd get any sort of benefit from it (kinda thought the SR people were making it up, LOL), but I have in my house $200 worth of Disney gift cards for our trip! From SR, for pretty much doing the shopping I would have done (I love shopping online), and some extra things like surveys and whatnot (and a few trial offers that involved a dollar or so in outlay), oh and movie rental sites, as well as a kid's book club and recently a book club for me. And the disney movie club.

Along with those cards, I just redeemed for another gift card for giftcertificates.com that I converted to new Tevas for DH. And I have already spent a bit from the Disney giftcards already received, on disneyshopping, to buy myself a bathing suit and some dresses from their outlet part of the site. So I'm outfitting us with the rewards, which is SO cool!

And I'll be getting another $50 in Disney giftcard soon...it's just truly astonishing. I never EVER thought I'd do that much.

Also through Disboards I found MyPoints, which I don't do nearly as much on as SR, but I did get a $25 gift card for a hotel we'll be staying at before my HS reunion, before Disneyland! I'm about 2/3 of the way to another, but there's just not enough time at this point.

Since we recently moved from townhouse to apartment, turned in my leased car, realized DH's old car is just terrible, and bought a new-to-us car, plus we're still dealing with the utility company (they bill VERY late, we just now got the last bill and we moved out in mid-May) from the townhouse (the electricity there was astonishingly high, which is a big reason why we left...$700 over the winter, including some blackout days, and we were NEVER warm?), and so on and so forth, having this extra money is really great. And I don't mind the offers I have done, like the book clubs, because they are providing us with good reading material!

Since I already bought disney-themed clothes for myself, I figure I'll just need a keychain as a souvenir. I love keychains. :) We've got the potential souvies for DS and DH picked out too (the latter will get anything with Jack Skellington on it...the former, probably some plush animals, and perhaps a pirate thing or two or five or eight). I'm working on food that we might want, so we know where to go if we want a certain food, and we know how much it's going to cost.

I figure we'll either stock up at a store before we leave my dad's city, or we'll have a delivery on our first day at PP. Have some basic, more grounded, foods, or at least foods with an ingredient list. Also, I'm not the biggest fan of Nestle, so it will do my heart good to know I've got non-Nestle treats, at least for ME, back at the room or in my bag.

That said, I'm definitely looking forward to trying a Dole Whip, to another veggie gumbo in a bread bowl, and oh YES, a beignet. Though I'm concerned with the quality of the coffee I'll want to drink with said beignet. I highly doubt DL has chicory coffee? Perhaps I'll make sure the beignet portion of the day is in the morning, and I'll try to bring a coffee in from DTD or the DLH coffee place I've heard about? Can that be done?

We've recently, and painfully, figured out that DS just has to stay away from corn syrup. He becomes evil within half hour of eating it. He can eat things like organic, corn syrup free, chocolate covered ice cream bars, or cookies, basically he can eat sugar-bombs with NO ill effects. But if that thing has corn syrup in it, BAM our nice day is done. It took far too many instances of this for us to finally admit it. He can eat eggs, dairy (ice cream and cheese, he drink soymilk for a drink), he can eat peanut butter all day long...no problems. Guess if it's made in a lab, though, he reacts! So known snacks are important...

That and finding out what things are made with. Anyone know what's in the chocolate covering on a Mickey Bar? Did they go cheap and use the corn syrup, or are they made with care and quality and drop the gloopy stuff?

Anyway, we're looking forward to the food. :)

bumbershoot

08-20-2007, 02:52 AM

Now we move on to how many days! Thought we'd already figured that out, eh? I refer you back to my title.

I was looking on the DL Picture of the Day thread, and there were some fireworks pictures. Oh. My. Buddha. (hubby is Buddhist, I'm close to it, we get tired of saying the G word when we're not so sure about that whole thing) Amazing! Because of those pictures, we've added MORE days.

Not to PP, that would be crazy. For us. For our current pocketbook.

Noooo. But thanks to other people mentioning a way to look up the HoJo Entertainment Book cheapie rate (got the ent. book through SR, excellent to get rewards back for that, and by the way, no matter how you order an Ent book, it has serious VALUE...get the one for your own city is the rule of thumb that normally works), without having to contact their in-house reservation people! Nice! So I looked up the Friday and Saturday nights, and they are available, and available at the Entertainment $54 rate.... I booked each night separately, so we can cancel one and not the other, without messing up the other night. If necessary.

So we've gone from 3 nights to 4 nights, and now to possibly 6 nights! How on earth will I explain those extra 2 nights/3 days to my dad, who is expecting us back up there some time on Thursday? OK that's rhetorical. He'll probably delight in the fact that I'm doing something fun for myself. He thinks I'm too much of a rule-follower, and need to break out from the pack. He has an interesting view of me that's not entirely true, but I'm sure he'll be fine with us staying more days, lowering the days he can visit with us.

The main thing left in the plans, along with finalizing what day for MTTMM, is Southwest. After we got the car, the car which is only an '05 and could easily, and in luxurious comfort, get us to our destinations with better gas mileage and almost NO chance of breaking down like DH's old car, we realized we simply had to drive down. And that's fine and great, super-dandy.

But we'd already made SW reservations. Dings, to be exact. None-refundable fares... Now this won't make or break us. And in fact if we did just leave it on account, it would pay, or pay towards, our December trip to visit my brother! We'd just RATHER it be in our pockets to pay for gas and such.

I noticed on the SW site that there's a place to contact for exceptions to their non-refundable policy. Guess who I'll be talking to tomorrow?

We didn't make these reservations with the thought to canceling them...we fully accepted that our plans were our plans! But then the situation changed in a way we NEVER expected (just back in May DH was absolutely ga-ga over his car, we talked for three months about getting another car while turning in the leased car, and we never once thought we'd be getting a car to replace his POJ (piece of junk) :confused3 ), so I figure that I'll explain, and see what they say. Can't hurt, and might work.

I think that is all of our plans!

And now I just have to wait 28 days (27 and 22 hours and x minutes) to start experiencing the place, so I can write about it here!

Ok that just warped the time-space thing for me, and I can't think about it in that way. Otherwise I'll be depressed about leaving before I ever get there (like happened on our honeymoon cruise), and that is not fun!

lulubelle

08-20-2007, 02:05 PM

Geez Molly, are you a little anxious and excited for your trip?:dance3:
I am sure it will all work out and you will have a fabulous time. And your DS is darling, er, I mean Handsome;)

bumbershoot

08-20-2007, 04:27 PM

:)

I'm mainly anxious about the reunion, but am trying to ignore it with planning.

And I've BEEN anxiously wanting to write this all out, but hadn't gotten a good start until the other night, so I'm blabbing 7 months of thoughts into a couple days

:upsidedow

bumbershoot

08-23-2007, 07:48 PM

I figured out when our two PS meals will be. I lost the paper that I wrote it on, so had to call Disney Dining to find out.

Also looked through the menus on allears, YUM is all I have to say. There is so much good-sounding food on there. Then again, I'm on day 4 of a pretty intensive cleansing fast, so any food is going to sound good, right? :upsidedow

Since we're vegetarian, I wanted to know what restaurants had anything worth going for, and also to figure out the prices of things.

Paid the package off, and just got the paper proof of having done that...now am just waiting for the packet!

Weird, I can barely even think about DCA. I know it's there, but I've never been, so it's almost as though it doesn't exist. If I weren't sleeping so soundly I might have nightmares about being on our way home and realizing we never actually went to DCA! ha ha, now I've probably forced that dream to happen.

At some point here I'm going to have to start packing, and I'm not looking forward to that.

m&j'smommy

08-29-2007, 03:59 PM

I am really excited to keep reading your trip report...I usually just lurke around here but I felt that I needed to comment on yours because you are from WA. DH is from Fall City, and we lived in Redmond for a few years, until we couldn't afford it anymore. Also, becuase my DD who is 4 is named Molly and we are going to be at DL the same time as you.

bumbershoot

08-30-2007, 12:36 PM

Hi, fellow Washington-resident! Wow, there's a bunch of us who are going to be there at the same time. I feel like we should arrange something. Are you going to get a "lime green Mickey head" (actually Alien Green) paint chip from Home Depot, to wear somehow and identify yourself as a Disboard member? I need to go to HD today, pick up a few more. :upsidedow

***************

We got our documents yesterday! Very cute, in a pretty blue "million dreams" packet. DS tried to make off with the tickets, 3 five-day parkhoppers. :scared1: He has a talent at making cards like that disappear, so that was absolutely forbidden immediately. He was a bit surprised, but we did a switch-o presto change-o and gave him an old Costo giftcard in the tickets' place and he was fine.

UPS called and left a message with the tracking number and the estimate of 8am and 7pm. They left this message around 1. And showed up not half an hour later. Nice to have the head's up, I suppose, but maybe longer than 30 minutes would have been good for a different family.

jordansmomma

08-30-2007, 03:20 PM

I can't wait for more.
From the Desert of WA

bumbershoot

09-02-2007, 02:52 PM

I've started the 8000 packing lists. That many b/c I lose them. :sad2:

Am trying to figure out how many times I'll have to run to upload pix to the computer, to empty our one-and-only memory card. :eek: Really should run to Costco, see if they have one in the store with as good a price as they do online...or hmm, maybe see how long that Costco one could take. After all, my 256 memory card takes us almost through a day at the zoo, I can't even imagine how many pictures I'd take with a 2GB!

Got hooked up with a photopass share, so that's good.

On Tuesday I get a haircut! This is important for the photopass thing (want to look decent, unlike now, since I've been growing out my hair without a stylist's periodic help for about a year now, ew), but also for the HS reunion 2 days before Disney. :)

Found the portable DVD player for the car trip, but DH thinks he lost the car charger for it. And the battery is old, and doesn't hold a bit of a charge, so right now we're tracking down a car charger for it.

DisDancerina

09-03-2007, 12:50 AM

Your little boy is so cute! He could win a cuteness award!:cool1:

m&j'smommy

09-03-2007, 11:18 AM

We went to Home Depot this week to get some Mickey Heads to attach to the stroller and backpack!!! I also had to get some extras in different colors to make a countdown on DDs bedroom door. She is asking "How many sleeps until I go see my sister?"-she thinks Ariel is her sister!!
I love reading your pre-trip report, I am just the same with a million different lists, getting a haircut, etc. I think DH is getting annyoed becuase I keep talking about it. I keep buying things-travel size goodies, new cheap movies for the car ride, coloring books, I have a whole bag of stuff. Two weeks!!! :banana:

BearsBabe

09-03-2007, 11:42 AM

That is an absolutely stunning idea to use the mickey heads for a countdown! Of course I am not taking my kids on my trip to DL this month, but I might use it for myself... lol. Thread hijack over, sorry. :D

bumbershoot

09-06-2007, 08:49 PM

Your little boy is so cute! He could win a cuteness award!:cool1:

Aw, he'd say thank you, but he's busy eating oranges and pizza. Odd combo. :confused3

m&j'smommy, I can definitely see a Mickey countdown in the future... I got my haircut, it's cuter than it was before, so that's good. Now I just have to finish DS's haircut (he hates them, so I have to do them in stages, LOL) or buck up the change to have someone else do it. And then take the clippers to DH's hair, b/c I do a better job than the people he pays, and I'm quicker to find if he notices I missed a spot.

BearsBabe, no worries with thread take-overs. :)

**********

As I mentioned, I got the haircut. And it looks like I have more clothes to take with me, b/c I lost enough weight recently (so I fit into older clothes). Whew! Now I need to get some good inserts for my athletic shoes, b/c really I should just get new shoes, but that's not in the cards, so I want to just "renew" them a bit. :)

DH needs a new swimsuit. Man I hope they are still at Target this close to Fall. They were last week, but this week is a new, you know, week!

We updated our WA-CA travel plans. We were going to leave Monday afternoon, get to Troutdale, OR, and stay the night at a McMenamins place. But then I realized that outside-of-Portland to Bay Area is still going to be a rather long one-day trip, especially with Boy-o.

So we discussed at great lengths, and have canceled that reservation, and found a Super8 that looks semi-decent (and has an indoor pool + continental breakfast) in Roseburg. We will deal with the McMenamins deficiency by having lunch or dinner at the McMenamins pub in Roseburg (that's how we chose Roseburg, b/c it was far enough down the state (aka close enough relatively to the Bay Area for the next day's drive) AND had a McMenamins).

Could I have written McMenamins any more times there? :upsidedow

Today we went shopping for travel-food, as well as some staples for the days we're at my dad's place. Since we recently came to the conclusion that DS just can't have high fructose corn syrup, today's snack-shopping involved quite a bit of reading of labels. Man oh man do they put that junk in everything.

OK I nearly went on a tangent on that, but I want to keep this as the pre-trippie, not my own personal journal, so I'll shush now. :)

bumbershoot

09-08-2007, 10:05 AM

Began this update last night. Somehow never posted it!

Started packing. Wish I could just pack us all up and live the next few days in pajamas, but DH's workplace does insist on his being dressed and going into work, and I have a baby shower to go to on Sunday. :rolleyes:

Started to get some serious anxiety. I feel like I'm packing for and counting down to SO many things. If it were JUST Disney, if it were JUST a visit to my dad's, or JUST my reunion, that would be easy.

From today. Now DS is messing with my packing. Sigh.

bumbershoot

09-15-2007, 03:27 AM

The trip was almost destroyed before it started, AKA, we're getting insurance next time we do a package!

We're not in Anaheim yet; my HS reunion is tomorrow/today in San Jose.

But on our way out of hometown, we stopped at some stores to find an extension cord for the portable DVD player. Our car doesnt' have an alarm, and I felt yucky about leaving our Costco/WDTC package packet (with $530 worth of tickets) in the car. So I carried it on each stop. Finally went into the mall, DH carried DS. Got to Radio Shack, and they had the cord. DS wanted to come to me, so I gave the packet to DH. Then DS wanted to press a button while we paid, so DS went over to DH.

We left, got to the car, got settled, got on the highway. Not one exit had gone by, and DH asked if I knew where I had put the packet.:scared1: :scared1: :scared1:

I did not know.

We pulled off the highway, went onto a frontage road. Looked. Frantic. Hands shaking, couldn't think (I'm cool as a cucumber during physical injury moments, in the midst of bleeding and such, but I was a basket case for this). DH kindly (ha!) tried to blame it on me...I let him know that since NEITHER of us knew where it was or who had it last, that was inappropriate. :sad2:

DH suddenly realized it might be at Radio Shack. We took off like we were on the space shuttle. I tried to call RS, but for a minute just stared at the phone and receipt as though I read no English and had no voicebox. Stunned, thinking of our vacation just going down the drain.

Started calling but they were busy (in this day and age? Radio Shack? had their line busy?). Got the number for Costco Travel and tried to call them, to see if they noted our ticket numbers to see if they could be canceled and we could get them re-issued once we got there, but went through the phone tree at least 3 times without hearing a single word. Finally gave up.

Got to the mall. I was dropped off at the closer entrance, and DH was to drive to our parking spot and retrace steps. I ran through the mall. I got to RS. I looked in.

I saw the packet, just sitting on the counter!:woohoo:

Now normally I'm a quiet, take-your-turn, ask politely, don't butt in front of the line, sort of girl, but this time I pushed my way in front of the guy at the counter, GRABBED the package, said "thank goodness". And then looked through the packet in front of them. Yes, making it OBVIOUS that I was making sure everything was there, not caring one little bit if they realized I was casting aspersions on their characters...

It was all there.

While I was pawing through it, I heard the clerk, who was on the phone, start talking. To a credit card company. Saying something about the customer, their credit card, that the name wasn't exactly right or the ID didn't match, or something like that, and could they verify that he was the card holder... YES! A possible scammer, right in front of my packet containing my tickets!!!!!!!

I booked it out of there, calling DH on the phone (he had JUST parked which shows you how fast I ran through the mall) to let him know all was well.

Got to the car. Noticed my lips had gone numb from the stress of it all. My legs didn't feel so good, a bit jelly-ish. DH's heartrate was a bit high.

And all the while our 3 year old just watched his DVD and talked to himself. He's such a good little traveler.

It has all worked out. I put the tickets in a zippered section of my 3-sides-zippered tiny purse that I have been wearing everywhere (not taking it off). There has been no loss of tickets.

But next time I'm making photocopies of the tickets (assuming we get tickets in the future...not this year b/c we're upgrading to APs) and getting trip insurance if we get a package deal in the future.

Interesting start!!!!!!!!!!!

And that doesn't even mention the swim trunks we ordered for catalog pickup at JCPenney. The ones with color-change fabric. We picked them up today, went for a swim at night, and as we were drying off in the exercise room area, noticed that the color-change involved the color-block section developing a print of NAKED women (like the silver ladies one sees on trucker mudflaps sometimes), and a weird, almost Nightmare Before Christmas skull face on the print section of the fabric.

NOT APPROPRIATE! And more importantly, NOT MENTIONED on their website. And not OK for Paradise Pier's pool. It only took three JCPenneys reps (the second one insisted they sold no such thing and she didn't have a clue where he bought them, but it certainly wasn't from their catalog pickup department here in San Jose) until we got one who could hear the problem and FIX the problem. He'll be picking the replacements (and returning the naughty ones) up at the Penney's at the Village @ Orange, the second day into our DL trip, which is a bit of a bummer, but he just could NOT wear those in front of our 3 year old, in front of OTHER kids, or really, even if he were all alone in a pool. He just feels they are inappropriate for a married father (but even if you were a 22 year old single man, I doubt you'd be picking up many women, wearing naked women on your trunks :scared: )

momshadow

09-16-2007, 12:11 AM

Wow,
great of JCP to give a complete discription of the shorts. I have teenage boys what if I had bought those for them? Its bad enough that Ive bought them The Big flag shorts from old navy. But really my DH would have been so red faced that I dont know what we would have done. I pretty shure it would have included a peace of my mind and I cant afford to loose any more of that! :rotfl: Sounds like God was watching over those ticks. :love: I hope that the rest of the trip is full of Disneys wonderful moments. :dance3:

bumbershoot

09-18-2007, 02:02 AM

Quick rundown from Monday the 17th.

Left Santa Cruz around 9am. Stopped at two rest areas and at Andersen's for split pea soup (totally vegetarian, and delicious).

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That's it.

No real traffic, even LA was breezy.

Checked in at 7pm.

WHAT? Why did it take SO long?????!!!!! We never did find out.

What was excellent, however, was that they upgraded us to DCA view way up high.

And she asked us if we were celebrating anything, and the answer was yes, our anniversary. She disappeared for a bit, and came back with 6 balloons (pink and red) for us, and two balloons (purple and blue) for DS (who is 3 and therefore nnnnneeeeeeeeeds balloons).

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Also, she stated outright that our little white charge slip (for some reason I was always under the impression that it was a big piece of paper but it isn't) gets us in for Early Entry and let us know what dates it would work for (we'll have 2). Whew!

Rather than trying for half an hour at DL, we lazed around, swam for a bit. Got cleaned up and went into DTD, where DS requested Rainforest Cafe. He ate almost an entire kid's cheese pizza, which, while not *astonishing*, was more than ever in one sitting for him.

We shared the nacho appetizer (without meat), and it was DELICIOUS. Highly recommended.

DTD in the evening is lovely. DS said, while at RFC, that he wanted to stay there for (while putting up the correct number of fingers for each number) "1, 2, 3, 4, 5" days. Conveniently, that's just about how many days we're staying. :upsidedow

After wandering and getting past the arcade successfully, DH and DS watched some cartoons in their kid's viewing room. Very cute.

I like the classic cartoons on the TV, though I'm not a huge fan of Snow White's voice on the "princess story time" show on the cartoon station. Augh, too high...almost worse than Joey Lauren Adams in Chasing Amy...and if you knew me, you'd know that that is NOT a compliment...

I won't get into it all, but the halls on floor 10 smell like old cigarette smoke, and I went into a *freaky asthma/throat closing/fell asleep so fast DH thought I had passed out* thing when we got back from dinner...and I'd love to know if it is going to happen again.:scared:

Oh, and I LOVE the pool. Love love love.

Except for the throat/lung problem I had a little bit ago, I'm really liking this hotel!

Though I will be very happy to actually get INTO a park tomorrow. Er, today.

bumbershoot

09-19-2007, 07:35 AM

Am up early (on Wednesday the 19th) b/c my nose is running and I'm coughing, and my lungs are tight. Classic cigarette smoke reaction for me, gol darnit. My immune system was negatively "primed" to have reactions for this visit, due to the first week of our trip, staying with my family and all their indoor pets, in the woods (and they seem to be allergic to dusting their house). Otherwise I'd likely be withstanding the allergen bombardment better, but I was coming from a weaker place from the moment we stepped foot into the hotel. :(

Wonder if anyone thought of the strangeness of putting a smoking section in a narrow corridor on the way to the Tomorrowland train. Did not appreciate that one! The way the one over near Matterhorn is positioned seems more convenient for those who partake to get to, and it's easier for those of us who do not to avoid it. Wonder why they didn't try to find something like that for that area, and, if they couldn't make the space, wonder why they did it in the way they did it.

We saw SO many happy children and parents yesterday (Tuesday the 18th), it was wonderful! If they were having as easy a time getting around and onto rides as we were, no wonder! Though of course there were some meltdowns...our son (and nearly us!) included. But that was mainly due to exhaustion (I solemnly swear that we WILL take a mid-day break today, no matter how tempting it is to say "just one more ride").

I can do something more "reportish" later, but right now I'm typing in a nearly pitch black room (other than my screen) and I can't find my notes. Oh yes, notes. la la la....

I learned that I truly dislike Dole Whips and Floats yesterday! Bleah! The guys liked them, but not I!

This morning we have the Lilo/Stitch b'fast.

**************

Figured I should actually put a report here for that Tuesday!

Here is Eamon, being woken up by Mickey Mouse. I was already dressed and ready to go, which is soooooo unlike me you can't even believe it.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd2e957fd41f00000035118CZMmjFq1bC

Cool fountain where the security line "end" was when we got up to it.

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Pin the PPH front desk person gave us at check-in.

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We had EE that day, and we planned to use it for Fantasyland. Although I have been reading here for ages now, it was as though as soon as I got to the property, I forgot everything. Including the best way to get into FL. Through the castle sounds right, right? But NO ONE was going through it, and I started to worry that everyone knew something I didn't know, so I started following the herd going to the right of the castle (but left of/beyond the Astro Orbiters entrance to Tomorrowland). Well, of course, that's a good way to get to Nemo, and at the last minute we decided to go for Nemo instead of FL.

Good decision, it turned out! Despite being held up by character sightings on entry to the park, we were there, in and through the line, on one of the first round of subs, and off the ride, by 9:30 (EE started at 9). Excellent!

Then to Autopia, which I hadn't been on since I was a child. In '05 we were set to go on it, but DS refused to sit on the seat, so we couldn't ride. Last year it was down for refurb. It was fun! I liked the "offroad" part.

I was wearing a Mickey postcard print dress that day. Except for Astro Orbiter later, I loved wearing a dress! So comfy! But I think bike shorts under it might have saved me some modesty and, er, thigh problems by the end of the day.

On Autopia.

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Crazy4Disney72

09-19-2007, 04:40 PM

Sounds like besides the funky smelling hallway and bad smoke reaction, you are having a good time! Thank goodness your tickets were still there at Radio Shack...I read your account and felt nervous for you and then relief when they were there!

I hope the Lilo & Stitch breakfast was good....I just called today to make a PS for that for November 19 so I'll be looking for details!

Enjoy the rest of your trip and thanks for the little updates, it's fun to read 'live' DL TR's!

bumbershoot

09-19-2007, 10:18 PM

I have moved the entry that WAS in this spot to later.

Continuation of the 18th.

By the way, we really liked Nemo. Very cute, and also very small. I could see why a person would have an issue going into that sub. Hmm, come to think of it, I never saw a line for the alternative viewing area! Hmm.

Off to Tomorrowland, where we had a sighting of Buzz! Most excellent. However, we saw that Space Mtn had a 5 minute wait, which caused a dilemma. DH insisted I go on SM while he and DS wait in line. I took him up on that offer, and in doing so missed DS's first true character interaction, as well as his first ride on the Buzz ride this trip.

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We had no autograph book, nor a reason to think it would be needed, but Eamon got peer-pressured, and DH did too (DH has a case of the "I wants" only slightly lower than DS, by the way). But we never saw Buzz again, so we have no signature for him in the book we bought later. And DH mysteriously refused a CM's kind offer to get Buzz on the "phone" and get his sig, while we were at Woody's Round-Up...silly DH!

Portrait of a mudda', by DS, age 3.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd2ed8b4155a00000026108CZMmjFq1bC

After Buzz, the shopping began. Then he desperately NEEDED me to take a picture of his new Incredibles phone.

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I think we went on Buzz 3 times in a row.

I do not like Astro Orbiters! Too tilty!

Rancho del Zocalo (or whatever it's called!) for lunch. DS had the bean burrito, and DH and I shared the soft tacos Monterrey, with fajita veggies. And the three of us shared a tres leches cake slice. Fairly good, and I presented everyone with the pins I previously bought on eBay.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd2ee335555e00000026108CZMmjFq1bC

My notes are ALL the way across the room and I'm coughing, so I might have to add later, yet again.

Went to POTC. Here's the huge, enormous line.

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This year, DS did NOT NOT NOT like POTC. Yet still wanted to BE a pirate after we were done, and indicated he would like to eat "in" the pirates ride (excellent).

We indulged the first request right then and there.

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That sword lights up, is glow in the dark, and makes a sword-fighting noise when a button is pressed. Strangely, it kept "falling" and "breaking" while DH was looking at it, behind DS's back (with pocketknife in DH's hand to unscrew the battery compartment). DS never noticed the weight difference from the times it worked to the times it didn't...thank goodness.

After POTC we noticed some crazy-short Indy waits, so I went on while the boys went on Jungle Cruise twice, and then we switched. Then we tried the Dole Whip and Float, I didn't like them. Went back over to FL, the boys went on Carrousel and Dumbo, Tea Party, Alice, and Matterhorn (which DS hated).

Eamon showed the Mad Hatter his new pirate hat. http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd2ee31d557600000035118CZMmjFq1bC

Then we got on the train from Tomorrowland to get to Main Street to get back to the hotel. When we came down the stairs, it was Pluto.

DS thought it was HILARIOUS, and a little bit wrong, the way Pluto set his new autograph book to sign it.

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A kid just under 40 inches hits the characters in a very weird place, when giving bear hugs. No picture needed, you can imagine. Most of our pictures have DS with his arms around upper legs, face planted just below where a navel would be...must be weird to be, er, be friends with, a character.

Then a repeated problem happened, where DS just didn't understand when HIS interaction was over. The characters are cool with it...Pluto pretended to steal him away, taking his hand and walking off...but still, it must get old for them!

Got back, we might have gone for a swim (might not have, don't have my notes in hand), but I know we went to dinner at PCH Grill. DH and I shared the cheese fries (at the time they were fine, but in memory, bleah) and DS did the Pluto's pizza where the kids get a chef's hat and put the sauce and cheese on themselves. Good pizza, good time, but we were EXHAUSTED.

daffidyll

09-25-2007, 01:59 AM

Hi Bumbershoot....I've been MIA for awhile on here....glad to hear you finally made it to DL!!! Wow....guess my trip will be coming around the corner! I'm enjoying reading your report!!

bumbershoot

09-28-2007, 01:01 AM

We're back from our epic journey at long last. No brain is present to write tonight.

Sunday was insanely busy. Saturday wasn't much better. The weekdays were so much better.

We did nowhere near all of what we wanted to do. We did quite a bit, however.

Loved DCA, want to spend more time there.

DS's pirate hat was stolen from the stroller, but everything was made right in the end.

Next trip I will budget for food MUCH better.

I liked PPH, but when it comes to value (which could change if I had the AP concierge rate that was out while we were there), HoJo was better.

The cheese pizza throughout the park was very good, but WHY is just the pizza from Daisy's Diner so much more than the pizza meal elsewhere? Weird.

And why is ToonTown so much hotter? Well, except for last Saturday. :upsidedow

DS didn't like POTC this time, nor did he like Matterhorn or the TT coaster. He did, however, love the Teacups.

That's all I can think of right now. More once my brain has returned to my head!

DisDancerina

09-28-2007, 07:22 PM

bumbershoot

09-28-2007, 11:23 PM

I'm adding pictures and changing the text to a couple entries, by the way.

And now I have a massive headcold, which is very obnoxious. DS has it, too. DH must fight it.

Oh, and as a semi-conclusion to the JCPenney thing, despite saying they could NOT help us like the phone person said they would, they DID take care of the situation.

And just as we were ready to go, replacement shorts in hand...the clerk noticed that the Arizona brand TAG stated "surfer chick print". Surfer chick.

I really really want to post a picture of those trunks, but I fear being dinged by the mods, b/c it's really just silhouettes of nekky ladies.

Surfer chicks...:sad2:

bumbershoot

09-29-2007, 02:42 AM

Wednesday the 19th, was nowhere near as action packed.

Lilo was good, but DS was still full from dinner, and he was just too hyper to sit.

This picture is just about the speed he was moving.

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Continuing with the bleah pineapple reaction I've been having, I was NOT thrilled with the much-complimented pineapple scone. boohoo

The potatoes, however, were EXCELLENT.

Eamon liked the drums! http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd2e118a559800000026108CZMmjFq1bC

After that, we went to DL to upgrade to APs. THANK YOU Sunshine Rewards, for the Disney Gift Cards for that!!!

DH says we went on Matterhorn, which DS hated (I didn't enjoy it much this trip, either).

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd2e166f15e600000035118CZMmjFq1bC

And then, we went to DCA, and spent all day, but did very little.

Although this moment almost came at the expense of a broken finger (he was in line then went running off, I went to grab him and SLAMMED my finger STRAIGHT into a pole, OMG the pain), and although they started leaving and Eamon took the initiative and went chasing after them pellmell...he did get to meet a chipmunk.

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And he met Flik. http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd2e23c955c200000035118CZMmjFq1bC

DS had an INCREDIBLE time in one of the water play areas, the one where water squirts up out of the ground. We didn't (should have) change him into his swim trunks ahead of time, but he was wearing one of those "rash guard" sorts of shirts...he got absolutely, positively, completely and totally, drenched. And he had just the best time.

It started so innocently.

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And just got waterlogged.

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I think he played for an hour, just running and laughing and narrowly missing running into other children. Well, two times he had a collision with other boys, which resulted in a fake-looking *bounce off, fall on bottom, get back up and keep running* moment, but all was well. And then the older teens/young 20somethings showed up, and they had to be told twice by a CM (the friendly Rudy) to calm down. While he was talking to them a second time, DS had his last fall, when a 12-ish year old was barreling through and smashed into him (remember DS is 3), which caused a full on knee-and-palm fall. Oh no! That ended his fun, but got him an Honorary Citizen button from Rudy, which was sweet. Then I toweled DS off in the bathroom (a lovely CM cleaning the bathroom suggested I use the baby-station thick pads, and then got me a trash bag to put his sopping wet clothes and sandals in) and changed him, but DS was still not happy.

So we tried to warm him up, kissed his hands and knees, got him ice cream, and bought him Buzz tennis shoes (it was that or go back to the room, and none of us wanted that, PLUS Robert wanted some Crocs and I had a 10% off purchase of $50 coupon from Costco, so really we couldn't pass up those cute shoes). THEN he was happy. Of course, that took about 2 hours. (continues our theme of things taking FAR longer than they should have done)

bumbershoot

09-29-2007, 02:59 AM

The 19th, continued.

All dry with new shoes.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd2e5ac9156600000035118CZMmjFq1bC

Why have I never seen the moving waterfall mentioned before? People talk about the sun all the time, but that "wave" waterfall is very very cool.

Or maybe that's my latent Californian coming through (even though I have NEVER surfed or even wanted to).

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd2e5ab4942b00000026108CZMmjFq1bC

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Who knew that candy corn grew like this? http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd2e5aa6943900000035118CZMmjFq1bC

Stinkin' candycorn...by the end of the trip, we had practically taught DS to read "corn syrup", so that he really really really KNEW that we weren't just being mean, when we refused to let him have something. In that DL candy store (with all the little penny squishing machines and other machines), EVERYTHING I checked started off "sugar, corn syrup". Except for rock candy, and that had at least 3 artificial dyes in it (we don't know how he deals with those yet). HARUMPH.

I don't mind sugar, I really don't. And I never intended to be the mother of someone with such a problem, but the day DS attacked me not 20 minutes after eating a lollipop, I knew that I HAD TO pay attention to the evil ingredient.

So sugar I don't care about. But, as we explained to him, corn syrup (and high fructose corn syrup) turns DS into a dragon, and NO ONE wants to be around a dragon...

OK so anyway...

Marching.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd2e5a85152a00000026108CZMmjFq1bC

He saw this "ad" and yelled "Woody!"

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd2e76e8946100000026108CZMmjFq1bC

Yep. Based on the sleeve. Yowza kids notice EVERYTHING.

We went to Flik's Fun Fair, and had a really good time. The bumper cars, the ladybug twirly ride, the Chew Chew train (I went once with the guys, but they went on at least two more times at DS's request), the round-and-round ride in the food boxes...all good. I feel as though I'm missing one, though...hmm.

We wandered, used the bathrooms, I drooled over the concept of having a margarita (but I don't usually drink liquor b/c it's so expensive, and this was no exception).

My dad has almost always lived in Santa Cruz, CA, home of the Beach Boardwalk. And I love that place. So you know I adored the Paradise Pier section of DCA! We didn't go on anything, but still, I loved it.

We went out the GC exit/entrance, and despite questionable signage to get out the right way, we got out with the help of Alex-the-DVC-scheduler (who got us scheduled, LOL).

Left to go to the mall, to take care of the swim trunks nonsense. We were all hungry, and the inner dragon came out of DS at Subway, which was embarrasing, but totally understandable, considering how very little he had had to eat (since he zoomed around at Lilo instead of eating, and refused all food all day).

He had a little bit of "safe" juice, a couple bites of food, and passed out HARD in the car. We stopped at Von's (my navigation skills with two partial maps and FOUR sets of directions to the mall, all of which were DIFFERENT from each other, were impressive!) to get some essentials, and the males napped in the car while I gathered the foods.

Back to hotel. Ate Subway. Slept.

bumbershoot

09-29-2007, 12:23 PM

Since the hotel handed us a printed sheet stating quite clearly that guests had EE every day it was offered during the stay, we knew that we had a second EE on Thursday the 20th.

This time we went to Fantasyland.

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DS was a little bit cold and tired still.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd2f98edb45f00000035118CZMmjFq1bC

But the people in line for Peter Pan were nice! They were Mariners fans who were wearing their colors, b/c they were going to a game that night. So that made DH happy.

I don't remember having ever been on PP, and it was a good ride! I liked the difference of hovering, rather than being ON a track underneath.

Then we went on Mr Toad's, which was great, and DS loved it.

Then the carrousel, and maybe some Dumbo and teacups to finish up the EE hour...I don't know b/c I went to Main Street to wait for my brother, who came up to visit for the day. He said he parked on time, got a tram on time, but as usual when we have waited in the ticket line...the people in front of him seemed to be conducting super-secret state business at the ticket sales windows, with transactions taking upwards of 10 and 20 minutes. When he got to the window, it was bing-bang-boom super-easy, perhaps a minute in total, but the people in front of him just took ages. So he was late. Bwa ha ha...he's NEVER late. :)

Tomorrowland was next, and since I had already had my fright from Space Mountain (turns out that the front car doesn't suit me, as I have very frightening mental images while riding it! actually, the coasters and I didn't do well in any way on this trip. ironic, b/c we put a halt to trying for a baby, so that I could enjoy my coasters at DL, and then I hated the coasters!), I sat that out with DS while my brother and DH went.

We had an 11:30 PS for Blue Bayou, and they didn't have a problem adding a 4th to the table, whew. DH and I split the portobello dish, and it was filling even split into two, but far too vinegar-y. Brother had the monte cristo, and couldn't finish it (he's a runner with a big appetite). DS had the mac and cheese ordered for him, but would NOT touch it. Smart boy! I tried it later, and it was NASTY. I think they ran out of REAL cheese and substituted velveeta, so it was not the taste sensation it should have been there.

Wander, wander...then I know we went towards Splash. While the men went on that, DS and I waited for Pooh in line. Halfway through the line, we were told that Pooh had to visit Christopher Robin but Eeyore would come out. DS didn't like it, but he did like Eeyore, so it was fine. And as Pooh was leaving, Brer Fox showed up, and DS thought that was fun (though he has NO clue who that is).

DH weighs over 300. My brother does not. DH was put in the very front of the log, with my brother behind him, thinking that DH would protect him. Ha. They looked like drowned rats when they got off that ride!

Sopping wet shirts, shorts just dripping water...http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd2fbb81758a00000026108CZMmjFq1bC

I felt bad for them, but not bad enough to not giggle a bit. After all, I *had* ponchos; THEY had just forgotten about them!

After some drying off and wandering, we made our way to the Island, where DH discovered that wet, new, Crocs will cause blisters. Oh what fun.

DS met Captain Jack, but haven't seen the pictures because it's on Photopass and I'm part of a share that I don't want to mess up.

When we got back to the mainland from the rafts...we discovered something. DS's pirate hat, the one with no name on it (he didn't want it), was missing entirely from the stroller. :eek:

We didn't tell Eamon at that point, wanting to make sure it wasn't there. We did buy him a blue Mickey balloon inside the clear balloon. I love those things...

Shortly after that, we all went back to the hotel. I got DS to sleep, then called DH and brother back up to the room. My brother and I then went back to the park, while DH and DS napped.

We spent that entire time walking to the parking structure so that brother could change shoes, and riding Nemo. Well, OK, standing in line for Nemo. Sign said 60 minutes, but it was more like 40, and the line seems to be a fast one. It was worth that wait, too. Maybe if we'd had DS with us it wouldn't have been worth it, but just the two of us siblings, it was fine.

The family that got on Nemo before us was a mom, dad, and toddler. The wife was on very first, and therefore was at the very end. As soon as she realized how far in she was, she panicked. We figured out what was going on, and helped to get her out of there. The husband and toddler were fine, and we all felt so bad for the woman. I felt a hint of terror just *thinking* about going into those tunnels on Pirate's Lair/TSI (and I refused to go in), and you're not even going under water in those!

By that time it was nearly parade-time, and DH and DS had entered the park. We were not able to meet up for it, so brother and I watched it from near Astro Orbiter, while the other males watched it from in front of Gibson Girl ice cream shop. (shoppe?)

Brother and I ranted about the parents who feel the need to put their kids on their shoulders, wondering why those kids get to have that view, when even parents don't. And why they tend to do it RIGHT in front of people like me who are 5'3" and can barely see anything anyway... Brother also was rammed SEVEN times by the SAME stroller-wielding parent, and I can't believe he said nothing at all to them. Please note we were away from the traffic of the parade viewers, there was NO need for anyone to be that close to him! There was lots of room to manuever, so why that person hit him even once with a stroller is mystifying.

Once the parade passed us, we crossed the street and made our way over to the others.

Where we saw, to my horror....http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd2f281bb4f100000035118CZMmjFq1bC
Yes, that's DS on DH's shoulders...HOWEVER, to DH's credit, he was in the very very back of the viewing area, so he wasn't impacting anyone behind him.

Then we had some treats, looked around the candy shop, pressed some pennies (with my LAUNDRY quarters, I was chagrined to find out, GRR), and waited for crowds to disperse. They finally did, and we left. Brother back to San Diego, the three of us to our last night at PPH.

bumbershoot

09-29-2007, 01:17 PM

On the 21st, Friday, I got us up early for MTTMM.

Moods were surly, attitudes were in the toilet. I sent the males down to swim while I packed things, not having remembered to pack the night before.

I was VERY rude to DH, blaming our late starts on him-him-him, and managing to imply that I was having a dreadful time (despite plenty of evidence to the contrary) and it was all HIS fault for causing us to leave 10 minutes late each morning.

:rolleyes1

We finally got sick enough of each other that he sent us off to go to the lines while he packed the car (we had confirmation that hotel guest parking didn't "expire" until MIDNIGHT the day you check out!). When he was on Splash the day before, his phone got a bit wet, and for a few days it refused to ring or alert him at all that someone was trying to contact him. Frustrating!

Especially b/c it meant I had to do a massive OOPS "my bad" into the messages (where he could keep it forever), when DS and I got through security and saw scads of people entering already. No EE, WHAT are those people doing getting in? What the?

oh. Friday. First time I've been there on a Friday as an adult. Managed to forget that it opened an hour earlier than it had been.

So we're half an hour late for MTTMM. :scared:

Big ol' OOPS from me to the hubster. Worse yet was that I *thought* we had missed it entirely! It took a few minutes to covertly read (I didn't want strangers to realize I'd messed up) the voucher, to find out (again) that there was one on Saturday. Whew.

But he couldn't answer the phone, and was still packing the car or walking through DTD, so DS and I went back to ride IASW at least once. That ride sort of re-set me. Me, not DS. Just me.

DH finally got there, and the three of us rode IASW. I have always loved that ride and song.

Then TT was open for the masses, and we went in.

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Went on Roger Rabbit, and had a breakdown at the VERY end. DS and I were in the car and the "exit" door was open, we were about to go through, and it just stopped. Turns out that if you're in that spot, you're going to be the LAST people "evacuated"! While waiting, we got to hear a father borderline-abusing his 3 or 4 year old DD who was completely and totally FREAKING OUT b/c she wasn't in the car with her mom, and she was scared. I think DH and I almost jumped out of our cars a few times, to get that scared kiddo away from her mean, mean dad.

We got out, DS played in Goofy's house, then got Goofy's signature.

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Do not blame me for the Elmo shirt that day. I didn't dress him, and decided that a beggar (please please DH get him dressed?) couldn't be a chooser (though I did pack another shirt for later, LOL).

Went on the Go Gadget coaster. Had our first encounter with wannabe line cutters, as some pre-teens tried to get from behind us to in front of us...I put my hand out and said something like "oh come on, guys, NO", in my low dog-training voice, and they went back to their spots, tails between their legs. Silly guys. One spot ahead. :sad2:

DS wasn't a big fan of this coaster. He wasn't talking, and was running out the exit as soon as we got out of the car, but I saw him holding his tummy and I knew it was b/c of the *stomach in throat* feeling that I had too. He doesn't have that feeling in normal life, you know? He will now tell you it made his "tummy feel funny".

Went to Donald's boat, and he got WAY too territorial. He's got a certain set to his chin in this pic.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd2f6303756400000026108CZMmjFq1bC

Then we got to have a super-fun (not!) *take the kid off the boat NOW* moment. I realized that he hadn't yet eaten (he was refusing food despite our offering it, I promise he had access to food!), so we went and had an "emergency" pizza at Daisy's Diner.

He played a bit more.

Then the guys went on Dumbo and TeaCups twice, while I went to find a hat. It was roastingly hot that day, and I any burn I got it was from those few hours before I got a hat.

And at some point between trying on hats, going back out to wait for Dumbo to be done, then taking the guys into the hat store to give their opinions on the hats I'd found...I lost my camera.:eek:

bumbershoot

09-29-2007, 02:00 PM

OMG I lost my camera! With my new 1GB memory card in it!

Now, it was only THAT day's worth of pictures on it, because I had been uploading the pix to the 'puter each evening, but still. :(

I was flipping out. Ran back to Dumbo and searched all around, while DH had a family searching the Hat store. They were SO nice. Just as frantic as I was, only a bit calmer in the way they were searching.

They kept telling me to check with the CMs, but I kept insisting that there had been NO time for someone to turn it in. Just no time.

They insisted over and over, and finally to placate them, I jumped to the head of the line and asked about a camera.

"What kind of camera?"

me, stunned that this was the question instead of just being told NO "um, an Olympus, digital camera."

"I'll be right back!"

And he brought it out, along with the map and entertainment guide I had left, somewhere, with the camera.

DH had me check on the memory card, and it was there along with the batteries and everything. I must have just set it down while grabbing the hats to show Robert, and someone must have come by right then, "found" it, and turned it in. Wild.

I nearly fainted at that point.

Felt so good, after recovering from near fainting, that I bought my hat (silly little "trendy" tinkerbell hat...but then DH wanted me to buy the PINK-with-tiara COWGIRL hat, so the hat I bought was less "out there" than what I could have gotten, LOL) AND we bought Eamon a "replacement" for his hat, the Mickey ears with the red pirate bandana. Put his name on it instantly.

Ah, shade for my eyes...

There's a big blank spot in my notes for what happened next, but I know that I had some issue with my AP. I went to get FPs for something, and noticed that mine said that my AP hadn't been used that morning, so I couldn't get a FP. Hmm. Odd.

I went to the info desk near the castle to find out where I could go to get this taken care of, and had one of those bad customer service experiences that would have NEVER been cleared up outside of Disney.

The info guy wasn't understanding me, and I wasn't understanding him, and we were going around and around about it...he actually mumbled something about my having missed the whole first part of his reply...d'oh! I assured him that I had not, but there was something I wasn't getting, and we needed to figure it out.

I finally figured out that he was telling me to go to City Hall to pick up a ticket for that day, to be used in the FP machines. He was using the phrase "Fast Pass Ticket". To me, that meant a "Fast Pass". I thought he was sending me to City Hall to get one FP for the one ride I wanted it for, which sounded awfully useless to me!

Once we figured that out, we both apologized, I told him that that was the difference between Disney customer service vs other places (that they would stick it through with you to get it worked out), and he gave me a "get on any ride for the day, up to 5 people" pass, so I didn't HAVE TO go to city hall that minute. NICE! Later I did put in a compliment for him at City Hall. And hopefully he won't use that phrase to other guests who might not get it!

On my way back to FL, I saw Mary Poppins and Burt. Never really got into that movie, but I love swingy skirts like that, so I watched for a few minutes.

I don't know what might have been between that and the next stuff I remember, but we ultimately ended up on the monorail (which had been down each time/day we checked before), to go back to the hotel.

We got to the car, moved to HoJo, checked in. DS went to sleep, and I assume DH did too.

I was still sooo cranky, and not tired, so I went back to the park (the walk from HoJo is SO much shorter and more straight forward!) for some alone-time. Should have gone swimming in the HoJo pool (our patio overlooked it), but I didn't.

I had decided I wanted my own lanyard by that time, so I went searching for the "perfect" one. Bought it in NOS, then got some vegetarian gumbo (my absolute favorite food at Disneyland), and just sat. And sat and sat and sat.

Then the guys called, and it was approaching the time that one *could* think of snagging spots for Fantasmic (shh, to those of you in the know, shh), so we started thinking casually about doing just that.

The guys went off to get food for themselves (DH wanted to eat what was left of the breadbowl from my gumbo), and a young woman sitting nearby started talking to me.

And very kindly let me know that Fantasmic wasn't that night, but that the fireworks would be, and let me know where to go for them. I was SO glad she told me. There were other people obviously getting spots for it, so I wasn't alone, but because she told me, I found out earlier rather than later, and I cannot thank her enough for that! She said she's a SeaWorld employee, someone who wears a blue shirt and whose job it is to answer questions and make guests' visits extra-special, so if she's a Dis'er as well as a SeaWorld employee, THANK YOU!

We got over to IASW just as they were starting to set up the poles and ropes (approx one hour before fireworks), and we got to see some bad behaviour by the guests, and to see how saintly the experienced CMs have to be.

While the CMs were stringing rope up (a process that took many tries, b/c for some reason it seemed to be more complicated and less labeled than perhaps it should have been), people were lifting the ropes and going by, in whatever direction they felt like going. Since there's nowhere to go but to TT in one direction, and TT was already closed, we got to see them come back through.

I cannot believe how NASTY some people are about IASW being closed before the fireworks! It's astonishing. I mean, I'm a fan of the ride, but if it's closed I don't have a steaming hissy fit, you know?

Robert offered his services as an unpaid CM, and until he got WAY too frustrated, he "helped" fellow guests figure out that they were doing wrong, and what way they needed to go. But then he was getting too stern, and I was picturing a newspaper headline about one guest getting into a fight with another, and I asked him to stop helping them. He wasn't happy with me, but I think eventually he saw my point.

Then we started chatting with the CMs as they did their best to stop people from ducking under the ropes.

Because of the nap, Eamon was a changed boy. http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd2f63e8f4bf00000035118CZMmjFq1bC

Yay! He was chatty and lovely, and required less "translation" than usual (3-year-old to English is the translation I mean). By that time we had told him about his hat, and that bad, non-Disney, pirates had taken his first hat. He wasn't happy with that, and wanted to "find them, and fight them, and find them!" So that is what he talked about with the CMs, one after another.

We talked about our experience with Rudy at DCA, and how great he was at watching over the little kids in the water area, and talked about how the hat stores were sympathetic, but nothing else, about the stolen hat.

An older CM, his name tag said *something* Leo, asked if I had spoken with a lead, b/c they should have helped me. I hadn't, and I felt foolish for not escalating to a lead. He told me that if a lead heard about it, they would do something about it.

All of a sudden, two other CMs descended on our little group all at once. One, JJ, said he had something for Eamon, and he pulled out an Honorary Citizen badge. DS was sweet and didn't say " oh I have one already", he was just pleased as punch to receive it and the high 5 that JJ gave him, for being such a nice little kid waiting for the fireworks.

Then Jenny O spoke, and she said how bad she felt that (non-Disney) pirates had taken DS's hat, and that she wanted to make up for it, and that she was writing out a Pinocchio ticket to replace it.

(I took a picture of that paper and want to post it, but suddenly am not sure that I should. I think I won't, but I have the picture to look at and feel warm and fuzzy.)

I started crying! Just a little bit, but still, there were tears. "____ Leo" nudged me and said "see, I told you a lead would take care of it".

So after all that was done (DS folded up the ticket and put it in his buttoned shorts pocket) and we thanked her profusely, "___ Leo" was left.

And then HE told Eamon how good he had been, how fun he had been, and that he had something for him! E was almost on "tilt" with all the gifts he was being given. He couldn't believe it! __ Leo gave him a Tinkerbell pin, the kind CMs have to give (usually with the "one to give" matching one). Eamon loved it.

And then a few minutes later, he came back and handed two more pins (the full "one to keep and one to give" card) to me and Robert, because we had been so fun and helpful to them. Wow!

And we hadn't even seen the fireworks yet!!!!!!

bumbershoot

09-29-2007, 02:44 PM

The fireworks...were amazing. I loved that everyone sat down for them. (I was told that you can sit in IASW, but at the castle you have to stand) I loved that you could swivel your head and see things on both sides of you.

We looked just in time and saw a little blob that was Tinkerbell "flying" down.

DS wasn't a big fan of the NOISE of the fireworks, but I talked low and quietly in his ear (a trick I learned in years of going to Seattle clubs, LOL, works much better than yelling OVER the noise) and he enjoyed the visuals.

Although the projections on IASW were hard to figure out, it was cool.

I'm quite sure I cried just a little bit during the fireworks. :)

You have to remember that that day had started SO terribly! Bickering, nastiness, being late with only myself to blame...the meltdown at TT, the camera, the Info center guy...sure, things had worked themselves out, but that doesn't totally erase the negativity.

Before the fireworks started, and because we were the first people there, respected the ropes, and chatted with the CMs, they had us move to where they were going to open the ropes up for IASW post-fireworks. So we were sitting right there (stroller was actually blocking it from sneaking people, LOL).

Back to the fireworks...just beautiful. I can't imagine their budget! We love our 4th of July fireworks over Commencement Bay, and I once spent a 4th near the Washington Monument and saw THOSE fireworks...but these were different.

So at last it was done, and I think people applauded.

And then the snarking started again!

When is IASW going to open again, where's the bathroom, can I go to TT now (um, no, what part of TT closes early did you not catch an hour ago?), and so on and so forth.

At one point a CM mentioned that the delay was a Fire Marshall thing, which makes total sense, and they should say that with EVERY answer. People weren't liking the "I can't let you in until I'm told to" answer, but people were better when they heard "I can't let you in until the Fire Marshall inspects everything to make sure there are no FIRES".

Someone tried to snake in front of DH, but he's big and blocked it, and we were OBVIOUSLY there the whole time and long before those people got to the area even before the fireworks, and they stepped back graciously.

And we all shared a laugh as a woman came up from nowhere to berate the CMs with questions. When it's IASW open, how long with that be, how long will the line take, how long does the ride take. WEIRD.

When she walked away, the women behind us started "telling" her exactly how long it would take her to walk ALL the way to the end of the line, where she had started from, and some other things that I won't repeat here. :upsidedow

And then...the all clear was given. I love the way the line was controlled! Of course, it helped that WE were the first ones, because I'm all about law and order, not running, and keeping things under control. DH had to veer off to park the stroller, but the CM walking backwards in front of us knew that, and kept things really SLOW, so he could catch up easily.

So we were the FIRST on the ride, on the FIRST boat, in the FIRST row!

And hey, there were JJ, Jenny O, and ___ Leo, all running IASW!!!! No wonder they were so incredibly nice, they hang out in the most mellow area of the entire property!

It was really special. We kept saying "we haven't been Dreamed, but this is all dreamy".

After that, we walked dreamily over to the Mad Hatter hat shop (site of the earlier camera-misplacement), got DS an exact replacement for his stolen hat, and put his name on that puppy. :)

We had already made use of the First Aid area for Robert's blisters twice, and on the way out, we stopped in for me. I had had a headache ALL day. I don't use allopathic medicines very often, and I can endure quite a bit, but I'd finally had enough, and they were kind enough to give me ibuprofen and an ice pack. Ice packs are about the ONE thing I appreciate from the medical profession. They can make 'em like no one's business. Crushed ice, plastic bag, wrapped and taped in the sort of waterproof-backed paper you have placed on your chest at a dentist's office. :)

Both really helped me.

Walked back to HoJo's, where I passed out (because I rarely take it, I'm sensitive to pain relievers, and I took 2 200mg pills) along with DS. We needed clothes washed, so my hero went to Von's for some supplies, then washed clothes for us, and stumbled into bed at something like 2am. Thank you, Robert, for washing our clothes again!!!!! (he had done so at the DLR coin op laundry a few days before, b/c he didn't feel that I would be as safe as he would be in the middle of the night)

And at last we all slept.

bumbershoot

09-29-2007, 03:46 PM

Before I get into the 22nd, I wanted to talk about the light "chaser" we got the night before.

When I went on my search for a lanyard, I also went in search of all the fun light spinner/chasers. DS wanted everything he saw, and of course we're not going to get him ALL of them...I mean, we were, on this trip, treating him like the "only" child he is (indulging more than usual) at this point, but there are SOME limits. :)

I personally figured he'd love the Buzz one the best, and he did like it, but they had some seriously cool Stitch ones as well. I think DH wanted that one. Next trip, I think we'll budget for a light chaser for each of us. ;)

While I was looking for lanyards, I found myself in the Pooh store, and saw a simple, clear blue, Mickey-head-shaped one with really fun lights inside. Interestingly, it was MORE than the others, which I found odd.

I thought "wow that's the one I wish he'd get, but I'm sure he'll get Stitch or Buzz."

So later, before the CMs started setting up their ropes and whatnot, while the area was still accessible, DH and DS stopped in the toy shop. And came out with...the ONE spinner DS wanted, the one that caught his eye of all the others...the Mickey head one I spotted earlier!!!

That light chaser is really fun.

bumbershoot

09-29-2007, 04:17 PM

Saturday the 22nd!

Woke up at HoJo's.

I've read that there were storms the night before, but I was in an ibuprofen coma and didn't know. Woke up to a wormy-smelling outdoors (I've figured that it's the smell of ozone, but it smells like worms to me!)

Since DH was out and about doing laundry, he tells me that it was indeed storming, but like I said, I was unaware.

Of course, the weather wasn't unfamiliar to us, in fact I said it felt like Spring in Tacoma! Damp, cool, some sun behind the clouds...just lovely.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd2f70a7b46100000086108CZMmjFq1bC

Once again we marveled at the quick walk. I can't imagine staying at PPH again, unless we got a great concierge rate (aka food included, LOL). I can *barely* imagine staying at DLH, but I'm willing to try it out. I have a feeling that GC could NEVER be worth it, to us, despite the close proximity (we're willing to try it out, but not willing to stretch ourselves financially for it). Nope, I think we're an off-site family for most of the future, and I think we'll be quite happy in it!

We got there early this time, early enough to get in ontime for MTTMM. Yay!

We got in, walked, got to the slightly open gates of TT, showed our vouchers, and were welcomed in.

Walked up the "road". We weren't the first people there, but nothing was happening yet. Since it was so empty and it's so broad in there, we were spread apart from each other. DH and I saw Mickey, and told Eamon.

Eamon was in his pirate outfit, with sweatpants and a warm shirt, and when he saw Mickey he opened his arms wide, and went running for him! It was like a commercial, I wanted someone to film him.

And then, suddenly, he saw the Trolley. Which he adores. More than Mickey, it turns out, b/c he veered off away from the Mickey trajectory, and ran for the Jolley Trolley.

Where he sat and "drove".

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd2f7096356000000026108CZMmjFq1bC

Honestly, I don't know how I got that picture, because I don't remember being that close. DH was closer. And he heard two CMs talking. One said, while looking at Eamon, "so, him?" And the other said "yes, he'll be perfect."

And then DH and DS were approached, while I "parked" the stroller.

I guess their eyes were caught by the pirate:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd2f7095b45300000035118CZMmjFq1bC

And they asked if we would like to be the honorary family that day in TT, to help with the opening ceremony.

Oh gosh yes! :)

Here they are, spiriting us to a table (we followed behind like good stage parents, LOL). http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd2f7098356e00000026108CZMmjFq1bC

It was actually pretty simple, no big deal, but still, don't turn it down if you're asked.

We sat up front, they did their song and dance number. http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd2889be944900000026108CZMmjFq1bC

The deputy mayor welcomed people to TT.

The he introduced us, though they only used MY last name for our family. Neither DH nor I changed our names, and DS is hyphenated, so we have no "family name", and I just said my last name, and that is what is written down, and how they introduced us.

We went up on stage, and here's where I must apologize to the DLR guests....just as soon as they asked where we were from, and IMMEDIATELY after I said "Tacoma, WA", the skies opened up and it started POURING like I hadn't experienced since I lived in Huntington, WV or Spartaburg, SC. Huge, fat drops of rain!

So yeah, sorry for causing the rain. Next time I'll say "San Diego". ha ha

The rain caused the ceremony to be made smaller, no parade, but a mad dash to the characters' houses.

DS got Mickey, Minnie, and Donald's signatures, and Goofy again on the same page as Donald, I think.

But this is what he really wanted to do.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd28873d94cd00000026108CZMmjFq1bC

bumbershoot

09-29-2007, 06:28 PM

22nd continued.

DH and DS went on Roger Rabbit again, or maybe we all went, I'm not 100% sure. Then they played in Goofy's house while I took pictures of weird berry type of plants.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd28873994c900000026108CZMmjFq1bC

We left eventually, and E and I went on Dumbo. While on, I saw people appearing with Dream ears, and I spotted the Squad and pointed them out to DH (while I was still on the ride!). He went over, but they refused to give him any, because he wasn't with his family (he had the stroller, they could have looked up at us). :( Serious bummer, relatively speaking.

While wandering the other day (I went on BTMRR during one of my solo travels) I took a "wrong" turn and found Woody's RoundUp and the petting zoo area. So I wanted to show that to the guys!

We got there right as it should have opened, but they were still clearing up from the storm the hour before. That was fine, it should have been obvious, but the CMs manning the rope kept trying to let us in, while the woman in charge of Woody's kept yelling at them to stop it. Not pleasant in any way. I mean, the rope CMs were nicer than the lady, but the CMs should have just WAITED. They were using big squeegees on the tablecloths for goodness sakes! There were no crayons...it was very easy to see that they weren't quite ready for guests.

So we chatted and waited. DH traded his Tinkerbell pin with a preteen girl, and then traded what he got from her with the CM, and ended up with a very cool Incredibles pin. I had purchased a Mr Incredible pin for DH, because the body types are similar (both out of shape and in shape, LOL), and because I was so impressed that he was working SO hard to get the money for this vacation. Awwwww. So he has a good connection to Incredibles stuff.

We were finally let in, DS colored, then decorated mini-pumpkins with eyes. We started talking about his Picassos, because there were multiple eyes on many planes of the face.

He met Buzz. http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd28872f94df00000035118CZMmjFq1bC

But it had been a LONG week, and he was tired. http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd28871415d400000026108CZMmjFq1bC

We also had a DVC presentation to get to. We had rescheduled it from a day or so before b/c of persistent crabbiness. This day was just tired, and we were VERY much looking forward to putting DS in the kidcare for an hour or so, while we relaxed with the presentation.

Plus, since we booked it while staying at PPH, we got a $50 gift card at the end of it, and although we didn't *need* that card, it was going to make things a little easier. So we really did feel the need to go.

On the way, DS wanted to rest his feet on the rocks. We let him. http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd28871a15da00000026108CZMmjFq1bC

Went to the presentation (it's on DLH property in easy sight of PPH, and shares its building with Disney Weddings). DS loved the kidcare. Our guide was very nice, and was a good salesperson who made you WANT to buy, but didn't MAKE you buy. We look forward to buying in the future, but did not that day. It turned out to be a good 2 hours, and DS just hated leaving.

They gave us the giftcard, and we went to Lego. Oops, misunderstood...they take Disney Dollars, but not giftcards. Luckily, we found a big ol fat NOTHING in there that DS wanted. Lego is so boring now, it's just kits! Even the boxes of big blocks are still kit-ish. You can't just build a house, or a car, or whatever, all the parts are meant for other things. Harumph.

But while there, he saw a foam sword and shield that he liked. We had seen them at DCA the other day (when buying a box-of-potato-head, LOL), and they of course took gift cards!

Off we went to DCA.

Bought the "Prince Philip" sword and shield, so now DS can be a pirate OR a knight.

Saw the Incredibles.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd289e23d44700000035118CZMmjFq1bC

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd289e11d47500000035118CZMmjFq1bC

We got FPs for ToT, then DS met Lightning and Mater. Got FPs for Grizzly, then had pizza from Pizza Oom Mow Wow. At first I thought the restaurant was going to be good, but YUCK. The marinara fusilli was very good, but the rest was just BAD. If we had spent a few more dollars we could have gotten another Stitch-serving-pizza AP-spending-30+dollars pin, but we did not.

The kid's sized pizza meal, which is for kids 3-9, was pathetic. The pizza was approximately 2 inches round. And it didn't taste good. Very disappointing!

We wandered around (very easy to do that at DCA!). I went on Triton's carousel with DS, and he enjoyed it. They even had a photopass person there!

We tried to cross the park in time for the next Crush, but were too late. The parade was supposed to be blocking things, so I took a weird route to avoid it, but it turned out to be unnecessary, b/c it hadn't even left the Sun area.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd28ae69d41500000026108CZMmjFq1bC

Since we were running into a time crunch, we decided to forgo Alladin. DS has never seen the movie (heck, neither have I!), and we decided to let it go.

Then we went into the Crush building, watched some of the screens in that main area, then went into Crush.

Very cute! NOT so cute was the woman *flirting* with Crush? I mean, WHY does Crush talk to a grown person anyway? And then starts asking if she can swim, and how fast can she swim, can she swim a long time, blah blah blah, with her answering in a sultry tone "oh yeah, baby, I can swim a LONG time". It was just ooky. Then Crush asked the woman next to her, later, if she had a question, and she said that her friend wondered if he had a girlfriend. Um, ew?

DS kept randomly yelling "yay!!!!" Which was hilarious.

I wanted to go to the animation lesson, but the time really was NOT on our side. Actually I wanted it for DH, but he wanted to do another ride more than he wanted to draw.

So DH went on ToT while I took pictures of the surroundings.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd28ae52551e00000035118CZMmjFq1bC

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd28a008d47300000026108CZMmjFq1bC

When Robert came out of ToT, he informed me that the Wee Boy had fallen asleep in his stroller. I didn't know! He almost never does that.

So we wandered out slowly, getting ourselves a hot chocolate and some sort of treat to eat later.

bumbershoot

09-29-2007, 06:47 PM

The 23rd. I never really planned to go to the parks that day, but once we missed the 17th entirely, and once every other day was not as packed with rides etc as I expected, I felt the need.

The main reason was Monsters, Inc. When DS fell asleep the night before, it meant he missed that ride. So I felt a strong need to make that up to him.

Well, since we were going in anyway, and since DCA opened later, we might as well get all packed and then go over to DL first, right?

So that's what we did.

We headed to Tomorrowland, to TRY to find Buzz for an autograph. We had one more page open in the book. Alas, we couldn't find him. My notes for this day are on another page, and my head cold is preventing me from tipping my head down to look through the backpack, so I'll just have to wing it.

Ok I think I have it.

Robert and Eamon went on Astro Orbiter, while I tried, for the first time ever, Star Tours! I loved loved loved it! It had all the fun of a coaster, but without the hideous fear that a beam has fallen in the dark and will take off your head. :eek: I only wished I could have gone more often, and that I had "found" it earlier in the week. The line is great, though there was no actual "line", so I zoomed past it all. Terrific ride. :)

While I was in there, the guys went on Buzz as well. Then the adults swapped, and I went on Buzz again while DH did S.T. (he's been on it before, but reported it was BETTER than he remembered!). I had a bunch of stuff in my hand...backpack on a shoulder, pirate hat, knight sword, autograph book (in case of a Buzz sighting)...I just couldn't turn the car in Buzz. About halfway through, I see DS's little hand snake up to the controller, and he steered us around and around perfectly.

After that, the guys went on Autopia while I went to the restroom and continued to look for Buzz. I finally gave up on that.

Next stop? To go back to Woody's Round-Up and actually see the Woody's Adventures show.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd28b89cd4eb00000026108CZMmjFq1bC

DS decorated yet another mini-pumpkin, loved the show, it was a good time for all. He didn't want to wait in line to see Jessie, so we left.

We were getting cranky again, and DH was feeling stunned at the amount of items on my list. Uh oh!

So I fed the boys a veggie burger to share among the three of us (OK well the adults shared the burger and the Boy ate the fries) at the Hungry Bear.

Went on Pooh one last time, had a lovely time. Then saw that Pooh was giving signatures, so we got in line and were successful! Yay.

The one ick moment, similar to the near finger-break days before, was that I was wearing Crocs (more comfortable than most shoes on me, but still painful, as are ALL shoes for my hobbit feet) and DS suddenly tried to JET out of my sight. I went running after him, slammed my foot down, and felt my whole foot just smoosh down. OUCH.

But this has happened before, so I walked it off.

Ending DL with some perfect moments (other than the foot), we zipped over to DCA after a First Aid stop for another ice pack.

Have I mentioned how intensely crowded it was at DL on Sunday the 23rd? We hated that.

DCA was a bit lighter, but not ALL that much, compared to how it had been before Sunday.

We went straight to Monster's Inc, the three of us went on it once, and the guys did it a second time while I sat out, putting ice on my foot.

Walked to HoJo's, got in the car, drove away.

And that, unless I remember more things later, is our trip report!

:upsidedow

Crazy4Disney72

09-29-2007, 07:19 PM

bumbershoot

09-29-2007, 07:25 PM

Things I learned.

Don't start the trip by visiting my crazy family. Well, actually, just don't STAY with them.

Ask one of my half-sibs to come with us, so we could have a couple hours of them watching DS (for money) and DH and I could get out on our own a bit. We haven't felt the need for that quite yet (though the DVC presentation was nice!), but as he gets older I can see it.

If we're not going to swim, don't stay at a hotel with a pool! But the better idea is...swim.

Get a place with continental breakfast, OR have some disney dollars or giftcards DEDICATED for food.

Plan the food better! This trip I discovered that most of the food there just doesn't do all that much for me. The veggie gumbo is my fave. Plan for that, don't experiment with my own food.

Don't order kid's mac and cheese at Blue Bayou. Feed DS beforehand, then just get him dessert and call it good. :rotfl:

Do NOT end the trip by visiting my family in any way!

I continue to be OK with my use of EE strategy along with being VERY flexible. Because we tend to go off season and during the week, we CAN be flexible, so don't feel guilty about it. It's not like Hydroguy is watching over our every move! :upsidedow

Don't buy a trendy hat. Buy a simple, straightforward, baseball cap. Or buy the pink, rhinestoned, cowgirl hat and be happy with it.

See fireworks from IASW.

Buy more balloons inside balloons! $7 is spendy, but to me they bring more joy than that $7, and it's sad to see them start to deflate.

The BabyTrend stroller we bought at the last minute (one half-brother works at Toys R Us and we went in to find something else, and came out with a stroller) was GREAT! We are NOT stroller people, we only bought a jogger once DS was two and I couldn't take power walks with him on my back in the Ergo anymore, but this was a really good stroller for Disney.

I need more time in DCA. We really liked it, but barely cracked the surface of it. It's not a halfday park, it's not a one day park. I could easily spend 3 solid days in there, looking, exploring, riding... We're definitely fans of it. Even though we barely rode ANYTHING in it, outside of bug' land.

Bring shoes along with extra clothes, if you have a water-loving little kid at DCA. And bring a TOWEL.

Expect to get the NASTIEST looks from other parents, the ones actually feeling the need to control their kids at the water play area, the ones who didn't plan ahead, and are telling their children "if you get wet, you'll be wet ALL DAY!" Ooh we got some nasty looks, and not because DS was going wild. But just because he was DRENCHED, and we were laughing and loving his fun. Bad influences, you know. :rolleyes1

I can't wait for DS to be tall enough for Star Tours!

Buzz is a nice ride, though you'll have the songs in your head ALL DAY LONG. It's worse than IASW in that respect, though I actually don't MIND either one.

I hope DS isn't into autographs when we go in the future. He's met most of them, got their sigs, I hope he's done. Doubt it, but I can hope.

We really don't need to stay onsite.

Oh yeah, I just remembered something else we did on the last day. We had beignets at Ralph Brennans. So, what we learned from that was (well, what I learned, since I know the difference and the guys don't yet) do NOT get beignets outside of the actual New Orleans. They were sooooo not worth it. And more expensive than I remember them being at Cafe du Monde.

Don't look at the creepy moving heads at the ESPN Zone. Bleah.

OK, I'm too sick to write any further. Dang this cold is a NASTY one. I had DH come home from work today, to work from home and help take care of DS, after I realized I could barely move my arms at one point. I'm better now from that point, but I'm still really sick and weak, and DS is a day or two "behind" me in the cold, and needs more help than I can give.

In fact I think a fever is coming on right now (yay! fevers are good! body is working!), and I need to get this laptop battery off of my knee, b/c it's just heating me up even more.

bumbershoot

09-29-2007, 07:32 PM

Loved your trip report! The pictures are great, your DS is adorable, thanks for sharing! I am a bit concerned, however, about PP...how long would you say the walk is? You say the walk from HoJo's is so much quicker....how much of a difference is there approximately? We are at PP concierge in November on the AP rate, $169, I'm hoping it will be worth it to us. We are a family of 5, kids 7, 10, and 14 who are big eaters for the type of breakfast foods that concierge serves, so I'm hoping that will add value to us even if the walk is a bit farther.

The kids should handle it just fine.

My biggest problem with the walk is that it's so curvy, and it goes by all the DTD shops. You've probably already worked out how you deal with the kid wanting things, but we're still in the early stages of that, and haven't yet figured out what works best with DS. He would buy something from every store, every time we went past, if he could, and those questions get annoying.

I also don't like curvy walks. I want straight forward walks with no real choices. And that's not what the walk to PPH gives you. You can walk next to Rainforest Cafe, or away from it. You can cross to that side or the other. And so on. That's just a weird *thing* with me, but it did really bug me, so it made it into my report. :)

I don't know how often the concierge lounge offers food, but if you have to go back, say, three times a day, that's going to be quite a bit of walking. Perhaps you could send a runner. :upsidedow But for three kids of that age, and heavy eaters to boot, I bet that will give you quite a bit of value for that price! DH and I are working to lose weight, had *just* completed a cleansing fast (so we physically could NOT eat all that much), and our one DS was just so overwhelmed he couldn't eat much...so 169 for AP concierge vs the 62.10 at HoJo wouldn't have been worth it. Let alone for whatever we paid for the four days at PPH with our Costco travel package (and it was NOT concierge).

But with those ages, and hoping you have happier feet than I do on a normal basis, I'm sure you'll be fine with the walk.

OMG I'm heating up more and more with this sickness, gotta go lie down or drink something or do something OTHER than sit with a laptop on my knees!

Crazy4Disney72

09-29-2007, 07:44 PM

I'm planning on using the concierge lounge for breakfast and take a couple bottles of water for the day, and then if we happen to be back to swim or something, we will stop in, but I won't give up park time to go back for the 'free' food since it's mostly just snacks. It closes early, 8:00 I think, or maybe earlier, so I'm sure it will be closed when we come in for the night because with kids our kids ages, we are staying out longer than 8:00.

Thanks for the info on the walk, I remember the days with a young child and how frustrating and overwhelming it can be for them when they see so many things they want. Mine were about 4 before they really got the concept that they couldn't have it all, they know that on a vacation they can pick one thing at the end of the trip. Now they are all older and have their own money so they can spend that however they wish, but we still buy them just one thing at the end of the trip or maybe two if I want to get them a shirt or sweatshirt or something, then they get that and something they picked out.

Get some rest, I hope you feel better soon! Very often I get sick when we get back from vacations, it's like you push and push your body and your resistance is low and it finally decides to tell you enough is enough!

bumbershoot

09-29-2007, 09:18 PM

I feel better now than I did. Took a warm bath, because I was aching, and it helped quite a bit.

The guys are out shopping, which perhaps is a mistake since they are both a bit sick, but we really did need food, and it's nearly impossible for DH to get out of here without DS.

Aha, they are back. DS never took a nap, b/c he's stuffed up, and he's whining right now. Sounds like the trip was a good one, but this whining is ruining their fun store time.

So anyway...definitely stock up on waters! We had PLANS to have tons of water, and some days we did, but other days we just sort of forgot and those were very likely our crankiest days.

The best thing about buying souvenirs on this trip is that those are things to BRING on the next trip!

Ugh, no one feels good here and the talk in the kitchen isn't happy-talk, so I'll stop checking in right now.

silence

10-01-2007, 09:04 AM

I loved reading your TR!

Just wanted to say....we were in the parks the same time as you...and 3 of us came home with the nasty cold bug as well! I'm still coughing up a lung, DH finally is feeling better and my DD is just about over her cough.

bumbershoot

10-01-2007, 12:33 PM

Oh wow, that's, well, I guess it isn't *cool*, b/c it's a nasty bug, but it's good to know that we're not alone. No, that didn't come out right, either.

DH had to work over the weekend, no getting out of it (except on Sat when he worked from home to help my sick self with DS), so he's busy infecting everyone up in Bellevue, WA with the bug. :scared:

jakoky

10-01-2007, 08:19 PM

You know, we were there pretty much the same dates-the 15th-25th.....we are a family of 5 who travelled with another family of 5...two of the people in the other family first got sick with a cold, then my son got hit with it...he suffered all day and we went for dinner that night and he ordered a "carafe" of OJ all to himself and the next day woke up and his cold was gone to never come back...the next day though he was burning with fever, i wish i had a thermometer, but using my mom instincts, i think he was over 104...next morning was fine and back to DL for a full day, BUT the other 3 in the rest of the other family came down with the wicked cold, and the both my daughters caught it...so 7/10 came home with it..me and my dh never caught it and my son "cured" his with OJ...it is definately a yucky one, my youngest is still coughing and my oldest is so congested and we have been home 6 days...i am glad you had an awesome trip, i know we did...it was a blast
sharon

bumbershoot

10-01-2007, 11:24 PM

Maybe we should start a thread, to see how many people are getting sick after a recent visit!

However, part of our CA trip was for my high school reunion, and a friend I re-connected with told me that all of our group is now sick with a nasty cold. We were all at the reunion 9/15 and also on the 16th...so that's one long-incubating cold, if my HS classmates have the same thing!

But since it seems it came "from" CA, now we're up in WA, one of the friends is in NYC, jakoky I think I noted you're in BC...it's moving around! :upsidedow

bumbershoot

10-02-2007, 05:32 PM

I'm going through our receipts, trying to figure out a better budget for the future. And in doing so I'm looking at all the food we paid a ton for, but didn't really enjoy! I've really got to pare it down to the excellent food, for future trips.

But for now I'll describe this as a mini-report on food.

But no pictures, unless you want a close up of Andersen's split pea soup that we had on the way down 101. And I'm not sure anyone wants to see that picture. I know I don't, and I took it, of my own soup, which I enjoyed! :laughing:

Right now at this exact moment in time I can't find my receipt for our first Disney meal, at Rainforest Cafe. But I know that DH and I shared the nacho appetizers, without the meat. They were enormous and very VERY good.

DS had the cheese pizza, and he ate it ALL. Then he had some ice cream.

Money well spent, however much it was. Only problem was that I *thought* we'd be going back for breakfast, so I didn't use our Safari club $10 coupon, and that is now sitting in my wallet, waiting for me to use it at the local RFC, plan a spontaneous trip, or expire in November. Hmm, I wonder which option I'm hoping for!!!

I also found out tonight (well, I think I was told it before, either here or on the *************** forums, but I forgot until today) that the DTD RFC offers an AP discount. We weren't AP holders at that point, but it's good to know for the future!

I just got distracted, figuring out what we remembered to get the discount on, where we forgot to, and then what discounts we could have gotten if one of us had the Premium AP. Too much math right there! :upsidedow

Hmm, looking at the cost of the premium, looking at what our savings could have been this trip, and thinking about other trips we plan for this year-of-AP...it could have come close to breaking even, for ONE of us to have it. Could have parked at Mickey 'n Friends on that last day, too. Harumph. Oh well! Not worth it at this point to upgrade!

OK so back to food....

bumbershoot

10-02-2007, 05:53 PM

Rancho del Zocalo.

DS had the bean burrito kid's meal with a small water, and he enjoyed it. Loved the straw; it changed colors when it got cold. :) DH and I shared the Soft Tacos Monterrey (fajita veggies option), and I know that I was satisfied with my portion, but I think DH had a differing opinion for his own stomach.

DH says: That was good. More rice and beans would have been nice but it was very flavorful. As for the portion, I thought it was good. Especially if we did not share it would have been more than plenty.

The three of us shared the Tres Leches cake, and it was "eh". I wished I had the chocolate cake instead.

DH says It was good but I do not think it was worth the money.

I really liked the location, and the main reason we went to Rancho on this trip is b/c I was thwarted in going on our last trip. I just wanted to be in that restaurant!!! And I look forward to going in the future.

The one odd thing, and this was only b/c my expectation was wrong, is that I was really bothered it wasn't a sit-down-take-your-order place. I can't call it a buffet, but it was like being in college, and I wasn't expecting that.

Since we sat in the shade, and that was right next to where BTMRR goes by, DH says: Fun to see the ride and it had a good amount of shade.

Later we had an iced coffee at Compass books. They were out of espresso, but had NO sign until you got right up to the register. Grr. It was OK. Just OK. DH has no memory of it, and no opinion (even though we shared).

That night, PCH Grill. DS had the Pluto's Pizza, or whatever it's called. They give the kids a cute paper "toque" to wear, b/c they are the chefs creating the pizza. DS just had a cheese pizza, and he got one cup of sauce and two cups of cheese. Since he's never really made a pizza before, he started with the cheese. Since I HAVE made pizzas (oh boy have I made pizzas) before, I did jump in to help after awhile, so his pizza would be, you know, edible. (though I DO wonder if the actual chefs really do cook what is given to them by the kids, but that's not possible to tell, really, with a cheese pizza) Then you give them the "palette" back, they cook it, and the kid eats. DS loved that pizza, and ate it ALL.

DH and I shared the cheese fries and salad. We were plain old hungry, and I don't remember taking the time to actually taste much. Though I remember liking the salad dressing (ranch), and liking it to a certain extent. It wasn't funky, as some ranch dressings are.

DH says I liked the cheese fries and salad. However I wish the used less of a sauce and more just melted cheese. I did like a lot the make your own pizza concept for E, however wished they allowed you to make a veggie instead of just pepperoni or cheese.

We were VERY tired that night, and the pictures I took of us reflect that. We just wanted to eat and go up to bed.

Burr-bank at DCA. We had a Steamin', or Steamer? Chocolate? Sundae, that we shared. And a cone. And a croissant. :eek: Separate purchases, for some reason.

OK so writing this just confirmed something annoying for me. Here's the description of what we ordered: Steam'n Chocolate - Two scoops of vanilla ice cream atop a warm chocolate cake, topped with hot fudge, whipped cream, chopped walnuts and a cherry, served in a waffle cup.

We got no "chocolate cake", or brownie, which is what was described there. And I tried to mention that to DH, but he vaguely said "oh no, that was the other one". But we ordered that one BECAUSE of the brownie/cake...but, it was a stressful moment. We were totally indulging DS at that point, b/c he had just had huge amounts of fun at the water area, then was pushed down in a collision with a big kid, became instantly freezing and his hands/knees hurt, then I didn't have a proper towel OR dry shoes. He wouldn't stop whining or crying, and we just wanted to make the kid happy.

Which didn't work, because he just wanted a cone (but the cost from cone to sundae is relatively minimal and we thought we did the right thing in upgrading his order...we were wrong). So DH and I shared, and we got DS a cone. Which he liked. While still eating the sundae. :upsidedow Gluttonous little kid. :rolleyes1

The croissant, well, I have no clue why that was ordered. BUT it was the only part of the purchase allowed for an AP discount; they said that ice cream purchases in that area do NOT count, and indeed they didn't. I guess DS wanted something more filling than ice cream, and the croissant worked for him.

I remember being disappointed by the sundae, and I think that was b/c of the lack of brownie/cake.

DH says I loved the sundae except I thought there was supposed to be a brownie included. It was gooey and nice.

His sudden remembering that a brownie should have been included is a 180 from his attitude at the time. Harumph. Eh, he's sick the poor guy. I'll give him a pass on it.

We have no opinion on the cone or the croissant, b/c we were not allowed to have any. Oh boy was that little boy indulged for that hour...truly treated like the "only child" that he is at this point.

bumbershoot

10-02-2007, 06:27 PM

Blue Bayou. 11:30 reservations, waterside table. Patting self on back, "nice work, Molly!"

First off, the location. I have a feeling that our table was a bit of a blocked view, b/c I vaguely recall some sort of pole, and a bit of a curve behind my chair, so I think another table might have had more of a "view". Then again, it's just a view of dark water and a dark scene, watching boats full of people go by. :) Not saying it's not super-cool to be in there, it IS. But I can't imagine complaining about the relative lack of "view" when one is at one of those tables.

I have an issue with dark rooms; since I had Lasik done in '01, I have problems with my vision if I'm in the dark looking out at light, or in a light room looking into darkness. Just doesn't work. So it was interesting being in that room, coming from such a bright day. But I did adjust, which was very good (and not totally expected) and I could read the menu, see the server, find my way to the restrooms, etc.

DH and I split the Portobello dish. Now, I've read some people being weirded out by the $4 split plate fee. I've seen people on the WDW board getting outright freaked out by the possibility of it happening. But I don't see the problem. They don't just plunk down the plate and charge you for the extra fork. Rather, you each get a full sized side-salad (sounds funny, but I mean you don't each get half of the side salad) with your chosen dressing, and each of you gets a nicely dressed plate of what you ordered. It's just cut in half and thrown on a plate. It was stacked on the couscous, drizzled with balsamic, etc.

I felt it was a TON of food. DH wishes he had a bit more, and he was surprised at how full I got. He says I liked the Portabello mushroom, just would have liked bigger portions. of both the mushroom and the cous cous (which waa a little dry although very savory).

I felt there was just TOO MUCH vinegar on the plate and/or in the dish. Honestly, you do not need to drench it in balsamic. Perhaps I should have been more careful while scooping up the couscous, perhaps I ate too much of the plate decoration. (please see my vision issues!) But still, bleah, too much. The salad was nummy, though they didn't QUITE get all the sausage away from my salad plate, and I had to do a hopefully-discreet *geck get this out of my mouth* move.

I had iced tea, as did my brother. I liked it.

My brother had the Monte Christo, and he totally ignored the white asparagus side dish (but ate and enjoyed the potatoes). I would have snagged the asparagus (I love veggies while he doesn't, and we have a long history of my eating my little brother's veggies, LOL) if I weren't so stinkin' full. My brother is a trim marathon-runner (last year he did the Marine Corps marathon in DC) and can EAT when he wants to. And he could only eat half of that sandwich. He informed us that he did make sure to eat the meat from inside the half he couldn't eat, but the rest of the fried bread just didn't make it into his belly.

DS had the opportunity to eat the mac and cheese we ordered for him, but was either too distracted by the surroundings to eat, or thought it disgusting. Since I later tried a noodle, I'm going with the second option, b/c it was, indeed, disgusting. DH reminds me that DS hadn't even TRIED the mac and cheese, therefore could not have known it was nasty (and DH doesn't agree with that assessment to begin with), but I think that DS could just tell that it wasn't worth his taste buds, and he probably figured that we'd indulge him later. Little stinker. So correct, but still. He could at least pretend he's not onto us and how often we justify foods by saying "eh, it's vacation!" :goodvibes

We had no dessert.

I did use the AP discount here, and that was a good move, because when you have an AP and you spend $30, you get special pins. Because the bill was for more than twice that (silly me, deciding to treat my brother, who I'm sure is STILL hearing about that from his wife who is a highly, almost obscenely, compensated lawyer and who refuses to let ANYONE else pay for meals), I got two pins. Cute little Stitch at PCH Grill, carrying a pizza. Excellent, since we had indeed had pizza (albeit a kid's pizza) at that restaurant already. :upsidedow

Bengal BBQ. Mickey-shaped pretzel with cheese. Or rather, cheez. Bleah. Bright orange, plastic-y stuff that DS barely touched. Possibly the same cheez substance that was from the Blue Bayou kitchens.

You might have guessed that we use white cheddar whenever possible. I see no need to have extra dyes to turn respectable white cheese into orange-colored stuff. We don't use Kraft (scary company, modifying foods genetically all around us), we do buy organic whenever possible. We eat boxed mac and cheese, but it's organic and white cheddar, not orange. DS seemed to enjoy the pretzel itself, but ultimately he was mainly tired, and when he fell asleep, it fell out of his hand and onto the ground. Quite traumatic (since he woke up when that happened).

PPH Lobby Bar for an iced mocha and an iced latte. I don't remember much about my latte, except that it was my first iced latte in ages. DH says I liked it. He also says yes I did when I asked him just now if he liked his mocha. So there ya go.

Blue Ribbon Bakery that night. Two chocolate chip cookies, one oatmeal cookie, a kid's peanut butter and jelly meal. I liked my oatmeal cookie, and was quite proud of myself for not going for the chocolate. Once again DH replies Yes I did when asked if he liked his chocolate chip cookie. Yeah, I guess so is the reply when questioned about if he liked the milk he snagged from the kid's meal (DS doesn't *drink* straight cow's milk).

I'm so incredibly OVER the Uncrustable thing, I could just heave them all into the Rivers of America. They are at both of the zoos we belong to as well, and I think that even DS is annoyed by them. They sure do not compare, taste or nutrition-wise, to the organic peanut butter and organic jam sammies I make on organic nuts and seeds bread (all Safeway O Organics brand, and all very very very good, even that suspicious-sounding bread!). The only time I have tasted one that was even halfway to being "good" was a frozen one, when the zoo forgot to thaw enough one day.

But it allowed DS to get a little bit of "real" food in, along with his cookie, on that long day of self-imposed near-fasting he did.

bumbershoot

10-02-2007, 07:06 PM

Daisy's Diner. Cheese Pizza with a tangy vegetable salad $6.99

Let me first point out that the "tangy vegetable salad" was basically the result of someone upturning a bottle of marinated/pickled vegetables into a tiny cup, putting a lid on it, and calling it done. NOT really something that is going to appeal to the masses of children in this country. I would have liked it, as would DH, as children, b/c I was a weird child who ate and enjoyed most everything, and DH was raised by a Korean mother and therefore pickled vegetables were a part of almost every meal.

For DS, however, unless being given to him by DH's mother, there was no way he was going to touch them.

Please also note that most places at DL, things like this pizza are accompanied by "baby carrots, a fun straw, and choice of milk, juice or small bottled water." For less money. But not in ToonTown, no sirree.

However, DS had just had a meltdown on Donald's boat, and just before disciplining him, I realized that none of us had fed ourselves that day, so I declared it time for Emergency Pizza (pizza only b/c toontown really doesn't have anything else vegetarian, and I know that there was this cheese pizza over there, from my previous search of menus online). I think DS enjoyed it, and I think DH and I both snagged bites (while eating the tangy "salad" and granola bars we brought from the outside world). But I would try really really hard to NOT buy that pizza again, b/c of the relatively LOW value of it, since it didn't come with a fun straw, LOL.

Later that night I ran away by myself, and had dinner at Royal Street Veranda. The splendid Vegetarian Gumbo. Yum-o, as the obnoxious Rachel Ray would say. Come to think of it, I quoted her when I wrote "sammie", too. Yikes! I don't like her much (though I do enjoy making her "baseball" themed mac and cheese with cut up (veggie) hot dogs) and dislike most of her vocal mannerisms (and hand mannerisms too), so why on earth am I writing them out? I don't know. Anyway.

I love the veg. gumbo. Delicious. It was spicier than I remembered it from last year, but that's OK, I don't mind a bit of spice. Thoroughly enjoyable. It's the only thing I eat okra in, yum. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the TASTE of okra. But the FEEL of okra isn't a pleasant one, and it's a pain to prepare. So I have it in the veg. gumbo at DL once a year or so, and I'm happy.

DH is still jealous that I got the gumbo and he didn't, but he's napping right now so you don't get a pretty blue quote about it from him.

When the men joined me later, they shared a chocolate chip cookie and fries from Hungry Bear. The fries smelled suspicious to me, and I did not have them. When I say suspicious, I mean suspiciously like McDonald's fries, which are sold very close to the Hungry Bear in that cart. We don't eat McDs fries, b/c they are prepared with beef and therefore not kind to cows (even if you get over how unkind the company is in general to cows, one wants one's french fries, which are even fried in veggie oil, to be cow-friendly, and theirs are not. similar to Pizza Hut's pizza sauce, but I'm digressing wildly!) (I do have to say a big THANK YOU to the Hindu groups who found all this out about the Pizza Hut and McDonald's fries, so thank you!). And I'm sensitive to the smell of suspicious fries. I'm likely totally wrong about the fries, it was probably just a long day of cooking and the frying oil was probably just exhausted.

Since DH is asleep, we get no quotes. But he did eat them and he seemed to enjoy them. I also know that he later kicked himself for nickel-and-dime'ing himself out of his own breadbowl of gumbo, though he did get to eat quite a bit of the bread that I did not eat.

Now we come to the MOST disappointing meal of our trip, though it was not all bad. Pizza Oom Mow Mow. Sigh. That's 22.84 I'll never get back.

Slice of cheese pizza, the marinara pasta, a side caesar salad, and a kid's pizza meal.

The pasta was actually QUITE good. I can recommend that. So we'll take 8.49 plus tax off of that total above, b/c we don't want that back.

The cheese pizza was cold, dry, and crumbly. How can a pizza be crumbly? Don't know. Am a bit scared about it. We ate it b/c we were hungry, but we didn't have happy faces while doing so. The kid's pizza, OMG, what a rip off. TINY. Dry. Crumbly. Tiny. Applesauce with pizza? Weird. DS doesn't like applesauce, never has. I think DH ate it. We'll have to hear about that later. And we didn't get the fun straw that should have come with the meal.

Salad. Bleah. I can deal with the concept of anchovy paste in most caesar dressings, I really can. I'm not a perfect vegetarian when it comes to fishies, I admit that. But I don't want to think I opened a can of anchovies and just ate them (as I admit I used to do in my omnivorous days), and that's how I felt after the salad. That shouldn't happen with a salad dressing... It was also depressingly small, for 3.29. DH was more disappointed by that than I was, so consider that his pretty blue quote.

If we had had dessert and therefore had spent $30, we could have gotten another Stitch pin. Maybe that would have made it worth it; maybe the dessert would have been good. But we thought we were going to get good, satisfying, food and would not need dessert. We were wrong. Oops.

Later, DS fell asleep in the stroller, and DH and I snagged a late-night, on-the-way-to-HoJo's snack of hot cocoa and a blueberry muffin from, well, the receipt SAYS it's Burr-bank, but it's the bakery in that same dining car building. The muffin was OK, the cocoa was quite good. We also got a Nemo cupcake for DS, which he didn't eat until the morning, and he seemed to enjoy it, but became very hungry quite quickly afterwards, so I'm thinking there was no FOOD value to it, just yumminess and an extreme CUTE-factor.

Our last day there, we went to the Hungry Bear for a veggie burger and fries that we all split. The burger was OK, and the fries were better than they smelled on the 21st. So that was good.

Our last Resort-based food was at Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen quick snack area, where we got an order of 6 beignets and french bread with butter. The bread was nice. The beignets, IMO, were not. And I desperately missed a cafe au lait. I must get back to New Orleans. DH has never been to New Orleans, neither has DS, and they both enjoyed the heck out of those beignets.

bumbershoot

10-02-2007, 07:21 PM

I wanted to add something. There was really NO reason for me to expect a good meal at POMM. I read NO good reviews of the place. But I forgot all those bad reviews when walking in, b/c it was a thoroughly pleasant-looking place, and I couldn't imagine that the food would be so bad. So please, trust the majority of the reviews of this place...please.

***********
Two offsite meals.

RFC which I think I've already mentioned.

And Mimi's the night after the cocoa and muffin. Got a grilled cheese sandwich for DS, with a side of mashed potatoes, and an order of spinach dip and a BIG side order of more mashed potatoes, because I was having a huge hankering for them. Obviously we did not get them with gravy. And we're NOT going to ask if they use any sort of naughty broth in them, b/c IMO anyone who uses chicken, etc, broth in something as simple and basic as mashed potatoes should be smacked with a kitchen utensil. Potatoes, mashed. With perhaps some butter. And salt. And pepper. And if you REALLY insist, half and half. Whatever. But do NOT sneak in meat, whatever you do. That means all of you. Restaurants, friends, Dis'ers, everyone. Just stop with the broth in mashed potatoes.

OK so the potatoes were delish. DS liked his grilled cheese, though he ate it cold the next morning, I think. DH ate the cold potatoes, b/c DS refused them and I had eaten most of our order of them the night before. The spinach dip...well, like most warm dips like that, the colder they get, the nastier they get. So...it was good at first. But they gave us a TON, and a ton of extra breads and chips. Just too much, actually. And I ate quickly, b/c I knew I would start regretting it as it got colder, so I stuffed myself.

I think in the future we would just GO to Mimi's, but DS was asleep and it was late, so DH walked over and back (we were staying at HoJo's by that time), and, well, we'd just eat there in the future.

BecBennett

10-04-2007, 09:19 PM

I loved reading your trip report! It was lots of fun. :thumbsup2

So roughly how much per day did you end up spending on food? My BF and I are going in March and while there's only two of us, he is a big eater too, so I figured what you spent on food should easily cover what we will spend...? Does that sound right? :confused3

bumbershoot

10-04-2007, 09:49 PM

Glad you enjoyed it!

I was wondering if I should put prices. For some reason there's a level of embarrassment about that, ya know? :upsidedow

Later on, once DS is safely in bed (not in my lap or around my lap), I'll do the addition. I know we spent more than expected, and quite alot of that was b/c of Blue Bayou. :headache:

I just know that after looking at that total, I'm going to have to add up the souvenir totals...:scared:

BecBennett

10-05-2007, 12:04 AM

lol, yeah I was thinking of buying Disney dollars or gift cards and telling myself that I'm not allowed to spend any more on souvenirs then what I budgeted for with the DD or cards.

I know that will go out the window once I'm there though :rolleyes1

bumbershoot

10-05-2007, 01:41 AM

So silly to be embarrassed about prices. I mean, we all have access to online menus through allears and such, so anyone can figure it out on their own...why not just put it out there and save everyone some work, right? :goodvibes

OK, I realized why. Because my accounting is ALMOST useless. Here's what I don't have info on...

I realized earlier that our Dole Whip and Dole Float (bleah) receipts disappeared, so I don't know the total on those and they aren't included. There's also at least one water purchase that's not included.

And we brought down snacks like granola bars, we refilled and refrigerated water overnight and brought those into the parks, and had one trip to Von's (grocery store) for things like bananas and organic cookies and organic juice (and, um, a 6 pack 'o beer for yours truly)...things like that.

Oh, just in case you like cake AND are planning a trip to Von's (or a delivery from them), toss $3 their way and snag a massive slice of Colossal Cake. Took us two days (well, OK, after-dinner dessert and then pre-park "breakfast", so two mealtimes) to finish it between the THREE of us. And that's doing better than in my new-baby, nursing-an-infant exclusively, days, where I was having a slice of that by myself EVERY SINGLE DAY...:eek:

On the night where you only see snacks at the park, we did eat that night, but it was at Subway when we went to the mall to snag swimtrunks...again, no receipt, but...big sandwiches for Robert and me, and a kid's sandwich meal for DS.

AND we had an included character breakfast, from Costco Travel, at Lilo and Stitch, so that's yet another meal that isn't included in the reckoning.

With all that said...

These include tax. I won't include tips b/c that will change depending on service!

Rainforest Cafe dinner. $23.13

subtotal 23.13
**************
Rancho del Zocalo lunch. $28.39

Compass Books for coffee. $3.50

PCH Grill dinner. $19.79

subtotal 51.68
**************
Burr-bank ice cream. $6.24
Burr-bank ice cream. $3.65
Bakers Field Bakery croissant. $2.51

subtotal 12.40
**************
Blue Bayou lunch, 3 adults and a child. $68.22

Bengal BBQ. $3.54

PPH Lobby Bar for coffees. $8.49

Blue Ribbon Bakery. $13.75

subtotal 94.00
**************
ToonTown. $6.78

Royal Street Veranda. $9.36

Hungry Bear. $8.11

subtotal 24.25
**************
Pizza Oom Mow Mow. $22.84

BakersField Bakery. $8.60

Mimi's dinner. $18.12

subtotal 49.56
**************
Hungry Bear. $7.36

Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen. $8.58

subtotal 15.94

total 270.96

(plus everything I mentioned before the list including tips for the tippable meals)
(also note that a few of those include a 10% discount b/c of the AP, so even THAT isn't accurate!)

This is of almost no use at all, LOL.
**************

If you divide that by 7 days (17th through 23rd), you get 38.71 per day, but the Rainforest day was at the very end, and there had been meals on the way to DL. The last day, there were meals after we left. So I'm not sure you can divide it by 7. But I don't know WHAT to divide it by.

Useless, truly. I'm sorry for wasting your time. :scared:

bumbershoot

10-05-2007, 01:52 AM

More thoughts.

I was going to get tons of disney giftcards (and I did have many, from ***************, but the bulk of those went to upgrade to our APs) ahead of time, but then things got in the way, and the budget for the trip was pushed into the paycheck we got right before we got there, rather than the paycheck from the full month before. Same budget, but we couldn't get the giftcards ahead of time, and that kind of messed us up a little bit. Oops.

I'm almost thinking that getting the three day dining thing would have worked for this trip, if only to pre-pay a bunch of our food, and get another character meal! We would have wanted one, but just didn't send the money that way...and having vouchers could have helped. Please note that I'm talking about a 3 day dining "plan" for a 6.5 day trip...

A few days ago I went through the receipts that I have, and I figured out how much we could have saved if we had upgraded to our Deluxe APs the moment we got there (or before, b/c you can use AP discount at Rainforest, which is something I didn't account for!) and used them every single time. So without Rainforest Cafe, we *could have* saved $20.89.

If one of us had upgraded to a Premium, with the 15% on food and the 10% on merchandise, we could have had a savings of $53.90.

Since we upgraded to APs because we have one trip almost planned, with another at least one hoped for, inside of our AP year, it really made sense. The discounts are a bonus. But I realized that if one of us had gone to Premium, that would have given us parking if we needed it (we don't plan on driving there again, but it would have been convenient the last day AND we could have met my brother pre-parking and covered his parking, AND when we visit for the rest of our AP year it will likely be driving from San Diego with my brother and parking...so the parking of the Premium could have been used!), and then of course the percentages off for the rest of the AP year. Could have worked out, if we had one of us upgrade at that time. But now the prices went up, so it would be even more from the Deluxe, and I don't think it's really worth it...

Interesting to think about, though!

DisDancerina

10-12-2007, 05:39 PM

:confused3 You sure must like to write!

bumbershoot

10-18-2007, 05:06 PM

Well, I do hope it was helpful to you in some way.

**********************

Now we're starting to plan a December trip! :yay:

sydangel68

10-22-2007, 06:43 AM

WOW thanks so much for posting all this.. I really enjoyed reading your trip report. It's nice to know that I am not the only one who changes their mind pre-trip.

We've rebooked so many times, DH is going crazy. Were originally going to WDW for 10 days and are now doing DLR for 15 days, getting annual passes, staying at HOJO and GCH. In between all this we are now going to included Sea World and Legoland. DH has put his foot down at trying to squeeze in a few days in Vegas too!..lol

Your son is a similar age to mine, so it was great to read about how he coped, what he enjoyed etc..

We took DS last year when he was 2.5 and he had a blast. Although we never spent more than 3 hours in the park at a time, due to him wanting to nap all the time. He will be 4 when we go next September and I am hoping he last longer days in the park. At least we will be at hotels in easy walking distance.

Enjoy your next trip. Can't wait to read about it.

Cheers
Angela

bumbershoot

10-22-2007, 12:35 PM

Thanks!

It was amazing how anti-nap my guy was on this trip. Last trip he conked out in the (rental) stroller a couple times (one time while clutching my birthday cake, LOL), but this time he was just Wide Awake.

I'm jealous that you get to go to SeaWorld. I love that place. Actually, the first half of our first day we went I didn't like it. But we got the "buy one day get a second day free" tickets, so we knew we could take that first day slow.

One suggestion for your SW trip...see the "pets" show (Pets Rule). It is adorable! So perfect for little kids, and a nice change from the big fancy shows. And who doesn't like seeing trained....CATS? Cats! And a pig, and lots of dogs, and even ducks! Terrific show. My brother and sister in law, who live in San Diego, got annual passes based SOLELY on that show, and they have been known to just go in mid-day for that show only. (they love cats)

And just in case you don't know, it's an Anheuser Busch company, so they sell beer at SW. Expensive Budweiser. After being at Disneyland, it really surprised me! :)

Your multi-trip-within-a-trip reminds me of our tentative, future, plans for a trip to Europe. We don't want to do the huge Europe tour, but we have some definite places we want to see, and they are NOT all near each other! :lmao:
*******

I think I must start a pre-trip report soon for this December trip, and I REALLY need to get some hotel reservations, for the dates we'll likely be there. Complicated with DH's new job and not knowing for sure what his schedule will be by then, when he's all done with training!

Plantlady

11-10-2007, 11:21 PM

I really enjoyed your trip report. My DH is vegetarian, so it is good to get some insight into which restaurants we may perhaps lean towards, if he's nice enough. :)

bumbershoot

11-11-2007, 06:00 PM

:) DH and I are soooo looking forward to more gumbo. And my omnivorous brother and sister in law always seem to enjoy the meat (steak?) gumbo the same place, Royal St Veranda, serves.

bumbershoot

11-18-2007, 08:57 PM

Got my photopass pix. This is the best.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/image647.jpg

Disney owl

12-01-2007, 05:00 AM

great reports & lovely photos thanks for sharing

bumbershoot

12-28-2007, 04:19 PM

From conversation in my Dec report, I decided to come back here and post a couple pictures my kiddo took with my camera in September. I might have already posted them, I don't know, so forgive if I did!

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd2fac1bb4b300000026108CZMmjFq1bC

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd2fbba175aa00000026108CZMmjFq1bC

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d709b3127ccebd2fbbad75a600000026108CZMmjFq1bC

We got him a V-Tech camera for Yule, and he LOVES it, so he'll likely bring it on future trips to DL. I look forward to seeing what his eye sees, with his own camera!

bumbershoot

01-05-2008, 04:53 PM

Realized I hadn't posted the September trip's photopass pictures. Silly me!

OK I sort of cheated, b/c I posted one of them in my December trip. For some reason I barely did any editing on the Sept photos, what was I thinking?

This is heavily cropped. On our way to get DS new shoes (Buzz sneakers) after his sandals got soaked in bug's land.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7cc07b3127cceb305cfca703a00000025108CZMmjFq1bC

Little hint. Never EVER have someone take a picture from downhill, when the person is significantly shorter than you to begin with...not if you have body image issues, that is. OMG the pictures that should have been cute where you align your head with the enormous Mickey ears on CA Screamin' are just awful, b/c she was so far below me. :scared:

This is the best of those, and I'm posting two embellishments I endited in.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7cc07b3127cceb305e360708600000026108CZMmjFq1bC

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7cc07b3127cceb305e361f1b700000026108CZMmjFq1bC

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7cc07b3127cceb3052d8cf13d00000025108CZMmjFq1bC

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7cc07b3127cceb3052262307c00000026108CZMmjFq1bC

I cannot believe how white my legs are. It's like I'm wearing white tights, but I'm not. Zoiks!

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7cc07b3127cceb3057edfb1df00000026108CZMmjFq1bC

Robert spotted a photopass photog after he was trying to take pictures of us. Kinda cool that the photog showed up right then!

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8df25b3127cceb3a6034642b600000025108CZMmjFq1bC

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7cc07b3127cceb3069549104000000026108CZMmjFq1bC

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7cc07b3127cceb306952f102600000025108CZMmjFq1bC